White Noise
by Reedmetosleep
Summary: Not all metas got their powers the night that the particle accelerator exploded, for some of them they needed something to kick start it. After Leonard Snart has a near death experience his powers are activated, only he doesn't get the hang of them as smoothly as he would hope. Instead he is left having to accept the help from the S.T.A.R Labs team to learn how to control them.
1. Chapter 1

The cold autumn wind was crisp in the air, as leaves skidded across the ground. They were pulled out like a quilted blanket covering the pavement before winter rolled in to litter the area under feet of snow. Central City seemed more peaceful this time of year, the sun isn't glaring down violently, and the snow had yet to barricade people from the roads. But despite the beauty, not everything was as peaceful as it seemed. Hidden deep within the industrial side of the city, things were far from serene.

"Where is it Snart?" The man's voice snapped, agitation was clear throughout his figure. He was tall, dressed like a businessman, his figure loomed over the chair Leonard was bound to. They had finally sent in the big guns after hours of interrogation.

"Where is what?" Leonard replied, squinting up at him. Blood was trickling down from a gash in his head, making it harder to keep his eyes open. He was pretty certain that they had cracked a few of his ribs, even broken his nose. But somehow he managed to sit in the chair with his normal smug look on his face.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." The man replied crossing his arms, he was tense, on edge. "You stole it from my house two weeks ago, I want it back."

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific." Len told him, blinking a few times to clear the blood from his eyes to get a good look at who was in front of him. He recognized him, Geoffrey Fielder a popular businessman in Central, he knew about his ties to the mob but had risked it anyway. If it wasn't for Mick's temper messing things up they would have gotten out of there scot-free. "I steal a lot of things." Len knew very well what the man was talking about, but he was never one to give in easily.

This earned him a hard right hook straight to the jaw. The force behind the punch was enough for him to be thrown back in the chair, slamming against the floor. Not two seconds later a couple thugs were pulling him back up, making sure his blinds were still holding him tight.

"Don't play games Snart, you know exactly what I'm talking about." Geoffrey stated, rubbing his knuckles. "Where's my ruby?" He questioned, his voice dark laced with malice.

Two weeks earlier Leonard had lead the rogues on a small heist, something to just pass the time and get their energy out. He had scouted the place for weeks, learning every entrance and exit down to memory. He even had a guy on the inside tell him the security measures. Inside the safe there was a ruby with that was valued at over four million dollars. He knew that the Fielder line had stolen is generations back, so he couldn't report something that was already not his. But things had gone south when the security detail had fired a couple rounds into Mick, who then went to burn half the building down. Now this normally would have been a small inconvenience, but in doing so he ended up getting himself stuck. This had caused Leonard to have to go back for him, and freeze a path out. Now there was only one person in town who could manage to do this, so it didn't take a genius to put two and two together on who had been the one in charge that night.

"Oh was that yours?" He questioned, a devilish gleam in his eyes. "I sold it." He stated simply. This caused the man to throw a hard punch straight into Leonard's mouth, and he let out a low growl in pain. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth and he spat out a tooth straight at Geoffrey. "Six days ago, the ruby is long gone." He replied, giving a blood stained smirk.

"You bastard." Geoffrey snapped, slamming his foot into Leonard's chest causing him to skid back a few feet in the chair. Before he could tip over one of the thugs caught the chair holding it in place to allow a few more blows to be thrown.

"You know this is a little too kinky even more me." He replied breathlessly, despite the depth of the situation his snark couldn't be tamed. "I'm not one for a five on one." He told him, noting the amount of people around him.

The smile that crept onto Geoffrey's lips could have given even the bravest of men nightmares. He was angry, it was obvious but his anger was twisting into something much darker. This businessman who was often referred to as the 'white knight' of Central City had something planned. After a moment he motioned for the thugs in the room to come closer, whispering to one of them.

"Get them to bring the truck out back and unload the chamber." He told him before sending off one of the men. "You know Snart..or should I be calling you Cold now? I hear that's what they've have been calling you on the streets." His voice was almost sickly sweet, like he was talking to a child. "I've always admired your ability to fuck up people's shit. But I just don't think this city needs someone like you anymore."

"You're breaking my heart here." Leonard replied dryly. But he stiffened up, something was not right here.

"Which is why I'm going to have to put you on ice." He replied simply. "Literally. I figured that I should make your name really count." The words sunk in and Leonard fought against the binds for a moment. "Oh no, need to struggle. You should get comfortable, here let my men help."

He motioned to the three remaining thugs, who walked forward as if they knew this was going to happen from the beginning. They started to loosen the ropes on his hands and feet, and Leonard immediately struck out slamming a fist straight into the thug on his right. It sent a sharp pain through him as he moved his torso. But soon the men had him in their grips. He felt his parka being torn from him, and tossed aside. Len was glad when the grabbed him that he didn't have the cold gun on him, the idea of that falling into the mob's hands wouldn't be pretty.

"You know Fielder if you wanted me naked all you had to do was ask." He told him, gritting his teeth. It was getting harder to keep a level head. He heard the familiar beeping of a large truck backing up and one of the old warehouse loading dock doors opened. Inside a group of men started to heave a giant box out.

They loaded it into the middle of the room before one of them took the power cord and plugged it in. It was shaped like an oversized refrigerator, big enough that two or three people Len's size could fit in it. But he had the strange feeling that tonight he'd be the only one inside of it.

"This here is a new state of the art butcher's freezer." Geoffrey explained, hitting a button on it and a few lights turned on. "We just funded the manufacture of these all across the city, in thanks the creator send me one for my own personal use. I was planning on using it to store my meat in, but I think this is a much better way to get it out of my hands."

There was a low humming coming from the machine as it powered up, they hadn't stood it up right. Which Len assumed was so he couldn't topple it over while he was in it and possibly break it. One of the men opened the door to it, and it reminded him oddly of a coffin from this angle.

"Well looks like it's time to get this party started." Geoffrey stated. There was no way he was just going to waltz into there, not without a fight.

He threw his weight to his right hard, snapping out of the grip of the two men who had him. He, swung his fist coming into contact with the man's nose before turning heading towards the exit. But he was surrounded. He didn't go down easy, getting beaten pretty badly till he was docile enough to drag into the machine. His back pressed against the cool bottom, and he tried to struggle forward but the door was slammed shut and locked in his face.

Len tried to clear his mind, he'd think away out of it this, he always did. Slamming his foot against the roof he tried to put enough force behind it to crack it. But this machine was industrial made for years of service, and it didn't even budge. The cold was starting to creep up on him, his breath turning to fog in front of his eyes.

This was it, this is how he would go. Because he protected one of his teammates he'd now be paying the price for it.

"For fucks sake."

* * *

"Whoa Lisa slow down." Barry, stated trying to both sooth the woman and understand what was happening. Ever since they'd helped out with Lewis Snart Lisa had been on good terms with them, and even on a couple of instances he'd over heard that Cisco had taken her out on a date. But that still didn't change the fact that a known criminal was standing in the middle of Star Labs, once again asking for their help. "What's going on."

"They took Lenny." She told him her face was straight, but brows furrowed in anger. "I went to the safe house to check on him and the place had been torn apart, it looked like there was a fight and the place was ransacked." She explained. "They didn't find what they were looking for so they took him instead."

Barry nodded trying to take in this information. It sounded like they had stolen something from someone powerful. But if he was going to help he needed to know more.

"Who took him?" He questioned. He heard Cisco moving to the computer ready to type in the names of whomever she gave them. "What did they want."

"Fielders." She told him. "Geoffrey Fielders. We stole something from him a few weeks ago, and Mick got a little out of hand."

"Geoffrey Fielders? You mean the man whose face is on all those billboards? Isn't he supposed to be some sort of philanthropist?" Barry questioned. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Fielders only got to his position in the city because of his ties with the mob. We've been studying him for weeks, he's some kind of illegal weapons smuggler." She explained. "He has Len, and he's going to kill him."

"She's right Barry." Cisco agreed, everyone's gaze moving to him. "It looks like he's had a few scandals over the years covered up. Stealing from his company, assault, even an attempt at murder." He read off the screen. "He's paid a lot to keep this under raps and out of the papers. We have to help them." Cisco was less saying this because he cared about Leonard, in fact he hated him. But Lisa on the other hand he had a soft spot for and would go out of his way to impress her.

Barry glanced at him, before back at Lisa. It seemed he was saving Snart's ass a lot these days. After a moment he nodded in agreement, even if Snart was a criminal he wasn't about to let someone get killed when he could have stopped it.

"Alright do you know where they might take him?" Barry questioned, but Lisa just shook her head. "Cisco can you go through the last few hours of surveillance footage of the city, put Fielders face in and look for him in the facial recognition system." Before he was finished the request Cisco was already on it, waiting for a hit. But this part could take time, they had to go through all the camera's in the entire city.

"Are we sure this is a good idea? Barry you don't know what you're running into." Caitlin had been quiet for most of the conversation, she wasn't as quick to jump to the aid of a criminal as the rest of them. Of course she would help, but she thought things out more than both Barry and Cisco did.

"If you're insinuating this is a trap it isn't." Lisa told her, an irritated tone in her voice. "I owe you guys my life, so does Lenny though he won't admit it. Plus we're not killers." he room was silent for a moment and Caitlin just nodded.

"I'll get a bed ready just in case we need it." Catin replied, and he turned to walk back into the section of the lab that was considered to be the medical bay. Barry could see the dread on Lisa's face at the idea of her brother needing medical assistance, but it would be better than him needing a coffin.

There was a small 'ding' and Cisco shot up in his seat eyes wide. Before he could announce that he had gotten a hit, Barry had zipped to his side, Lisa following behind him.

"The camera picked him up in Lawrence Hills at nine." Cisco exclaimed.

"Lawrence Hills? That's the industrial side of town." Barry commented.

"Yeah looks like he went down to one of the warehouses his company owns." Cisco zoomed in on the street number. "Four seventy five, Prince Street."

Just like that Barry was in his suit and on his way towards what he was hoping would be a living breathing Leonard Snart.

Barry arrived at the building less than thirty seconds later. He did a lap around the area, scanning to make sure that there wouldn't be any sneak attacks happening tonight. Once he made sure the outside was clear he raced inside. The place was dark, only lit by the dim emergency lights that went on when all the others were shut off for the night. The place was empty, not a soul in sight.

"Hey have you found anything yet?" Cisco's voice questioned in his ear through the comm link.

"Not yet, I'm about to enter the back." He replied in a hushed voice.

He ran into the back which would have once been considered a 'loading' area and was met with the first sign of activity. There was blood on the floor, most of it pooled in one area, and he noted the chair and sliced ropes not to far away. Someone had been tied there and presumably torchered some how. There wasn't enough blood on the floor to signify that someone had died here, just been injured.

If Snart had escaped from here there would have probably been a lot more blood and a few knocked out bodies. But instead it was quiet, except for a low humming coming from a shiny silver box in the middle of the room. Barry felt his stomach drop as he approached it, looking at his morphed reflection in the exterior. His fingers worked on the latches, prying the lid open with a heave. He was met a blast of icy air to the face followed by the sight of Snart, laying scarily still his eyes closed. His skin was a ghostly grey, lips blue, and there was frozen blood on his body.

"Cisco, I found him it...it doesn't look good." He spoke through the com, that was when he noticed the rise and fall of the man's chest. It was faint, but it was there. "Get Caitlin ready, blankets lots of blankets. I'll be there in forty seconds."

Barry reached into the freezer, his arms wrapping around Snarts waist to lift him out. His skin was cool to the touch even through the suit, but he didn't have time to worry about that as he slung him over his shoulder. Sure he may not look like the strongest man, but the lightning that gave him his speed also increased his strength.

Once Snart was settled over his shoulder he was running, the cold made it a bit hard to keep up his normal pace but he didn't let it slow him down. Within forty seconds he was back at Star Labs, setting Snart down into the hospital bed.

"Lenny." Lisa ran to his side a look of panic strewn across her face at the sight of her seemingly frozen brother. "What happened to him?! Is he alive?!" There was a fear in her voice that, Barry had never heard before. Leonard had been the one to really raise Lisa, he was the only family she had left, and now it looked like he was gone.

"Lisa you need to get out of here." Caitlin called out, already at the side of the bed. "Cisco get her out of here." She snapped, moving to check Snarts pulse as Cisco pulled the woman from the room. "Barry I need you to run a bath, not to hot just room temperature we need to warm him gradually."

Barry nodded and moved to leave, catching the last few words from her mouth.

"You're frozen solid. How are you alive?" She whispered in shock at the medical case before her.


	2. Chapter 2

"Will you let go of me?" Snart snapped as Caitlin was trying to run another test on him, she was still shocked at how he was alive. Lisa sat at the end of the hospital bed trying to keep his temper down, reassuring him that everything was okay.

He had been awake for the last two days, and his injuries from the beating he took was bugging him more than the fact his body temperature was fifty-seven degrees fahrenheit. He had to have his shoulder popped back in, his ribs wrapped, a handful of stitches and only once he complained about feeling a bit cold. It was baffling to everyone around him, anyone else would be dead at this point, or at least suffering from a fatal case of hypothermia. At first he was in pain, terrible pain, he woke up in the middle thawing process, yelling and cursing his head off. But after they sedated him and he woke up later he seemed back to his normal grumpy self.

"Lenny, let her run the tests." Lisa told him sternly her voice remnant of a mother's, and despite the scowl that came to Leonard's lips he held his arm out letting her take another sample of his blood. "If things get better you'll be able to leave sooner."

"I didn't want to be here in the first place, you brought me here." He replied coldly towards his sister. The idea of the Flash's team taking care of him wasn't something that fared well with him. He didn't want to owe them anymore than he already did, the fact he was in debt to them made him uncomfortable.

"Actually he did." She motioned towards Barry who was outside the glass doors across the lab, talking intently to Cisco about something. He was so caught up in whatever conversation the two of them were having that he didn't notice the gaze of the Snart's on them. Leonard let his eyes linger over the Speedster, he wouldn't get over how different he seemed out of uniform. He was just like anyone else, over excitable, dorky, and overbearing.

"Don't remind me." He replied bitterly as Caitlin placed a cotton ball over where she had just drawn blood and taped it down. He brought his gaze back to his sister and gave her an annoyed look.

"I couldn't exactly take you to the hospital either, they would have handcuffed you to the bed and wheeled you to Iron Heights." She gave a sigh and rubbed her temples.

"There's always Shawna." He told her, but even he knew it was a stupid argument.

"Shawna is not skilled enough to deal with these kind of injuries. A few scrapes and broken bones maybe, but not this level of injury." Lisa was right. Shawna only had a few semesters at medical school, while Caitlin was a fully trained and experienced Doctor.

Leonard just grunted, making a face as Caitlin walked back over to check his temperature. The doctor's whole body was stiff, obviously uncomfortable being alone in the same room as two criminals. But she understood that when it came to injuries she had to put her personal bias aside to be a good doctor. Once she got his temperature she furrowed her brows, the look on her face showing her confusion.

"You're still running cold, in fact you're colder than before." She informed him. "How do you feel?"

"I feel fine." He replied dryly. "Fine enough to leave here."

"Len." Lisa's voice warned, trying to get him to stop speaking.

"I don't think that's a good idea, not until we figure out what exactly is keeping your temperature so low." Caitlin insisted, but Leonard was already getting to his feet.

He wanted out of here, he didn't like being cooped up in one place, being poked and prodded like some kind of lab rat. He wasn't theirs to watch through a glass window, he was sick and tired of being treated like some project. He felt fine and that meant he was fine, at least to him it did. He unattached the heart rate monitor, and pulled the Intravenous tube from his arm in one sharp tug.

"Len get back into bed." Lisa stated in an irritated voice tugging on his arm, but he just pulled it away. She was shocked at how icy he felt still, and that just increased her worry.

"No."

"Leonard Snart, get your ass back in that bed."

"I said no." His voice was deadly calm, eyes glaring at his sister.

The commotion had gotten the attention of both Barry and Cisco from the other side of the lab, noticing that something must have been happening from the look of panic on Caitlins face, to the sneer across Snarts. The pair made their way across the cortex and into the small medical area attached to it.

"Hey what's going on here?" Barry questioned standing in the doorway blocking the exit. He crossed his arms over his chest, glancing at all the faces in the room.

"I'm leaving." Leonard answered simply.

"Why?" Barry questioned raising an eyebrow. He was the first one not to order him to stay, and ask why he wanted to leave. It caught Leonard off guard, and the older man just glowered at him.

"What are you going to try to stop me to Scarlet?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow challenging him. "I'm not staying here as your lab rat any longer."

"Can we have a moment alone?" Barry questioned the people around him. Caitlin was happy to leave, but Lisa was much more hesitant. But she knew Barry wouldn't hurt Leonard, not unless Leonard tried to hurt someone in here. After a few moments the room was cleared and Barry closed the glass door leaning against it. "Why do you want to leave?" He questioned again.

"Because I feel fine kid." He told him crossing his arms. "I know how to re-bandage my own wounds I don't need your doctor to do it for me." He continued.

"I pretty certain it's not the wounds she worried about, but the fact you're tempature is so low." Barry pointed out. "We're just trying to help."

Leonard just scowled, the kid was to nice, he trusts to easy. Here he was helping the man who was a convicted criminal, and he didn't understand why. Was this so he could hold it over his head later? To make it so Len owed him, because he wasn't going to stand for that.

"What are you getting out of this? Do you think this will put me in your debt? I won't come running to your aid if you call me just because you did this." He replied his voice cold, but the pun was still intended despite the serious nature.

"I'm not doing this so you feel like you owe me. I'm doing it because you needed help, despite the fact you won't admit it. You would have died out there and left your sister behind, I know you didn't want that. You're not in debt to me, this isn't some ploy to gain your trust. We help people here, and you need help." Barry explained. "Do you honestly feel okay?"

There was a pause as Leonard took that in, the kid really was to good. He'd help anyone even if that person had tried to kill him before. With a sigh he nodded.

"I feel fine." Leonard repeated, but his tone was less harsh now.

"Then you can go." Barry stated simply. "But if something happens you're going to call me right away." He told him, turning to grab a piece of scrap paper off the table, and scribbled his cell phone number on it before handing it over to him.

"You're giving me your number Scarlet? What's next, coffee and walking through the park at sunset?" He drawled sarcastically, but he took the note and shoved it into his pocket.

Barry blushed slightly, but didn't comment on it knowing what ever he said would just bite him in the ass. He stepped to the side of the door and Leonard started to walk out, but Barry reached his arm out, fingers wrapping around his forearm. The skin was cold under his touch, but it didn't seem as cold as how Caitlin described it.

"Snart." He turned his head to look at him. "Don't make me regret letting you out." He stated, his tone serious.

"Let you down? Oh Scarlet I wouldn't dream to." A smirk just came to Leonard's lips, as he shook the speedsters hand off his arm. Barry knew what that meant, they'd be seeing each other soon probably with less civilized manners. "Come on Lisa we're leaving."

"What?" She questioned, glancing between Leonard and Barry. "Did you approve this." Lisa raised her eyebrows as Barry gave a nod. "Fine but I'm driving home."

Leonard didn't bother arguing knowing he'd already pushed his luck this far. Plus he'd seen Lisa outrun the cops with only one hand on the wheel. If it was anyone else he wouldn't have trusted them. But since it was her, he didn't complain, he had been the one who trained her after all.

Lisa made her way across the room towards Cisco, who at this point looked a little sad. But he didn't say much, knowing Snart would probably punch him or add him to some kind of hit list if he did. She took his hand in hers and gave him her signature flirty smile.

"I'll see you around Cisco." She spoke softly, leaning in to ghost her lips against his but never actually kissed him. "Goodbye." She pulled back and walked to her brother's side, who was now glaring at Cisco. Lisa pulled him from the room and he complied not wanting for Barry to change his mind and force him back into the hospital.

Once the sound of their footsteps disappeared, Caitlin let out a breath her body becoming less tense, walking over to a desk chair to sit down. She had been so on edge for the last two days she didn't realise how much she had been stressing until the stress was gone.

"Uh was that a good idea? Captain Cold was pretty much an icicle a few days ago." Cisco reminded Barry, but a part of him was more upset about the fact it meant Lisa wouldn't be hanging around here anymore.

"He said he felt fine, and he didn't look to bad aside from what Caitlin had already treated." He countered. "Plus I'm pretty certain Caitlin was about to have an aneurism out of stress." He joked tossing a smile in her direction. "I think we could all use a break from Snart and his snark for a long time."

* * *

Once back in one of his safe houses Leonard, collapsed onto the couch not bothering to go to the bedroom. He just wanted to sleep somewhere that wasn't the glorified excuse for a bed he had slept on for the last few days. It had been more like an air mattress full of pebbles and packing peanuts, it was impossible to get comfy on. From his experiences with hospital beds they were all like that, and he was hoping he wouldn't be back in one for a very long time.

"Lenny are you sure that was a good idea? Maybe they should have run a few more tests." Lisa stated softly, knowing she was walking on thin ice, he was already agitated.

"Why? So they can take more of my blood and run the tests over and over again? My heart rate was normal, my blood pressure was perfect. I feel fine." He grumbled.

"Yes but your temperature-"

"Is fine. Stop worrying about it." He cut her off, hating the fact she was worrying about him. He didn't like stressing her out, but she was a lot like their mother in how insistent she was to take care of him.

"Fine. I'm making you some food." She told him, and he was about to protest but she spoke over him not taking no for an answer. "What was that? You want pizza? Oh sure I can do that." She stated, walking out of the room to the small kitchen in the apartment.

Leonard shifted where he was sitting, there was still a constant dull pain in his ribs. He pressed a hand to his side and gave a sigh. He'd broken ribs before, on multiple occasions but that didn't make it hurt any less when it happened again. The pain reminded him of the past few days, the moment in the freezer before he blacked out believing that he was going to die. How his thoughts had drifted to everything he had done in his life, if he died he didn't have anything to be proud of. Sure he'd pulled off a few great heists, but he hadn't really lived outside of his life as a criminal. He could remember the burning hot feeling when he woke up in the metal tub while they were trying to warm him up. How his entire body felt like it had been submerged in something so cold it felt like burning lava, how the only thing he could see was a pair of green eyes staring down at him, trying to keep him in the tub, before he blacked out again. He realized later that Barry had been there with Doctor Snow helping warm him up, getting his own hands dirty for Lens sake.

"Foods done." Lisa spoke, tearing Len out of his thoughts as she handed over a plate. The pizza had probably been in the freezer for a few months, and by the frost-bitten taste he knew they should probably restock the place. But it was food, and in that moment it was all he needed. They ate in silence for a few minutes, neither one complaining about the food though both tasted it. They were used to worse from when they were kids, in fact this would have been like a five-star meal when they were young.

"Lenny?" She questioned, glancing over at him once they were done. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Lisa, I'm okay."


	3. Chapter 3

"Mr Allen you're late." Singh's voice called out, as Barry jogged towards the crime scene. "What's the excuse this time? Let me guess you had to feed your goldfish?" It wasn't much of a question, just a dig towards Barry.

Barry stammered for a moment, his CSI kit in his hand, trying to think of an excuse that would pass off before Joe cut in covering for him.

"He was running an errand for me. Iris is sick so he was with her this morning. You know how she can just get talking." It was a good move on Joe's part, Singh had a weak spot when it came to Iris, she was on everyone's good side. "Isn't that right Barry?"

"Oh yeah, she's a talker, can't escape it." He replied, but Singh wasn't stupid. Luckily he trusted Joe enough not question further. "Now I'm just going to go collect some dirt samples." Barry threw in sheepishly, getting out of there as fast as possible. Truthfully he had just over slept, most of the night was spent out chasing after a new meta human who could transform himself into different states of matter, from gas to liquid. He was using his powers to rob houses, mainly the houses of high up socialites. Barry had almost gotten him, but he slipped out before he could catch him.

"West you should be glad that he is at least good at his job." Singh told him with a sigh.

"He's a good kid." Joe told him. "He just has a lot on his plate." Joe chuckled. "He's the best CSI we've had in years." He reminded him, with a grin watching as Barry awkwardly made his way through the crowd of police officers.

Barry opened his kit up slipping on a pair of gloves to keep from soiling any of the evidence. The glass door to the store had been shattered, and mixed in with the glass there were chunks of dirt that didn't belong there. Barry took a few samples, following the trail towards the back door. He checked the door knob for prints, and got a few. He could assume most of them would be employees but there might be something else.

"Have you found anything?" A certain blonde police officer asked.

"Yeah they left a dirt trail." Barry replied glancing up at Patty with friendly smile. "Hopefully I can use this to track down where they last were."

"You'll be able to do it, you're good at that kind of stuff." She complimented. "Hey Barry I was wondering-" She was cut off by an obvlious Joe coming to get Barry's attention.

"Body is in the back room, oh sorry for interrupting." Joe told replied. "Patty can you go help Singh?" He questioned, and the blonde nodded reluctantly wandering off. Joe opened the door to show him where the main crime scene was. Barry followed behind, wrinkling up his nose as the smell of death hit him. That was something he'd never get used to, but he kept forward taking in the sight before him.

"Female, looks like she's in her late forties." Barry commented, circling around the body. "The dirt from the main shop is back here as well." He noted taking another sample, he let his eyes trail over the room. "There's some kind of film in here." He walked forward scraping a bit of the yellow gunk off the wall and into a plastic bag, before leaning over the woman's body to collect some of it off her. That's when he froze. "It's leaking out of her." Barry commented, noting how the woman seemed to be filled with puss of some kind that was slowly draining out of her skin.

"Oh that's just gross." Joe groaned. "Do you think it was a meta?" He questioned lowering his voice so not be overheard.

"I don't know, I'll have to examine this stuff back in my lab." Barry replied going to take another look around the room, that was until he felt his phone starting to buzz in his pocket. He took his gloves off and pulled out his phone, noticing the familiar number from Star Labs.

"Cisco hey." He greeted.

" Barry, there's a slight problem. Can you come to the lab? "

"What do you mean?" Barry questioned into the phone, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Just come in and I'll explain."

Barry gave Joe and apologetic look, he had already figured out what the call would mean and just gave a shooing motion with his hand.

"Go Barry, I'll cover for you here."

"Sorry." With that Barry was gone, making his way across the city before skidding to a halt in front of Caitlin and Cisco his eyebrows raised. They both had impressed looks on their face, and Cisco looked at a timer in front of him.

"That's record time man." He replied with a grin.

"Cisco, maybe we should get to why we called Barry here." Caitlin told him, motioning for the Speedster to come and join them near the computermonitor. "You're going to want to see this."

"Oh right, so this video leaked about twenty minutes ago. I'd bet good money on the fact that these guys were the ones who took Captain Cold." Cisco explained, hitting play on the video.

The screen lit up to show a dark room, the only light source was a dim blue glow coming from what could be assumed to be a laptop of some kind. The man in front of the camera was masked, black clothes completely engulfing his body making it nearly impossible to see him. It looked cheap, but as though it was staged to be that way.

"So it seems you've escaped our trap." The voice was being run through a program to distort it. "But we are still watching, and we will not stop until we get back what you took. Or until you pay for it with your own blood." There was a pause. "We're coming for you Cold." That was it, about thirty seconds of a video that looked like it was produced in someone's basement.

"Where did this come from?" Barry questioned. "Can you track it?"

"I've tried to already, but whoever did this is smart. They bounced it around on the deep web for the last few days through an untraceable IP address. It didn't come to light until twenty minutes ago and when it did the file was taken down by the CCPD, I don't think they're looking into the case though. Someone probably just hopes the two will fight out out and one of them will die and make their job easier."

He was right of course, there were very few good cops left in Central City, most of them could be bribed to look the other way, or to have some evidence go mysteriously missing. There was even a big case recently where they managed to get rid of a handful of corrupt cops working with the mob, but they could never get them all.

"Does Snart know about this?" Barry questioned, pulling out his phone.

"Yeah, I called Lisa and she told me that 'Snart didn't care'. I could hear him in the background he honestly didn't seem phased by it." Cisco explained. "He seems like the type who's had a target on his head a few times."

Barry nodded, of course Snart would be the type not to worry about someone wanting to kill him. But this time they had tried to already, and nearly succeeded at it. He didn't understand how someone could be so apathetic towards a threat like this, he was either very stupid or extremely sure of himself. Barry figured it was the latter, but still didn't like the idea of someone taking a threat like this so lightly.

"I'll talk to him." Barry sighed.

"You're not leaving!" Lisa snapped standing in front of the safe house door. The commotion had gathered attention from the rest of the Rogues, who were now peaking their heads out into the hall to see what exactly was going on.

* * *

"Lisa, get out of the way." Len replied slowly, there was a dangerous tone to his voice.

"No, you heard what they said. Someone is out there looking for you, they want to kill you Len. You're not leaving this house." She told him sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm going out to drink." He told her, reaching into the closet to pull out his leather jacket, figuring the parka would draw too much attention this time of year. He slid into it turning back to the door, but his sister hadn't budged.

"Mick can go get you some beer." She told him simply.

"I don't want Mick to get me beer." He turned his head to look at the group of rogues who'd gathered to watch the fight, narrowing his eyes. He didn't have to say anything to make them leave they understood this wasn't about them.

"Lenny, they nearly killed you last time. You're walking right into their trap, they're probably monitoring all your known hangouts." She was right of course, but he had already thought of that.

"I know." He replied simply.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" She exclaimed.

"No. If they're trying to get to me, I'll show them just who exactly they're messing with." He stated, tightening the gun holster on his leg.

"You're not leaving here." She told him firmly. The atmosphere in the room changed, the temperature dropping at least ten degrees over the course of three seconds. She could see her own breath like smoke in front of her.

"You can't stop me." Leonard replied through clenched teeth. There was a crackle of frost as a thin layer of ice started to climb up the walls. This caught Lisa off guard which gave Leonard the chance to push passed her. "Mick! Make sure no one leaves." He called over his shoulder, knowing that he would do what he asked.

He stepped into the dark night outside, making his way towards the street where his motorcycle was parked, slipping the helmet on and revving it to a start.

Saints and Sinners had been quiet for most of the night, which wasn't normal in a place like this. Normally the music was loud enough you couldn't hear yourself think, there were people fighting or just so intoxicated they didn't care how loud they were. The place was usually filled with thieves, prostitutes, and criminals but tonight it was only Len. He knew what this meant, someone had paid off the normal customers to make sure the place was quiet. From the way the bartender was acting, he knew that they were waiting for something. How the man was hesitant to fill Len's glass when it was empty, and his eyes constantly gazed over at the entrance. But tonight he wasn't worried he came prepared for this, the cold gun holstered against his thigh gave him a sense of security. He's nearly halfway through his second beer when he hears the door to the bar creek over, he doesn't bother to look over but his hand settles on his thigh getting ready to pull his gun out if needed.

"Can I get a club soda?" A voice questions, as someone takes the seat beside him. Len knows this voice, and he lets out a small sigh.

"Did my sister call you in Scarlet?" Len questioned, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't here as The Flash, but as Barry Allen.

Barry didn't reply right away, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Lisa had called Cisco after Len left but he didn't want to throw her under the bus.

"No I came here on my own." He replied, giving the bartender a smile in thanks as the club soda was set in front of him.

"You're a shit liar kid." Snart muttered, his eyes studying the bartender. He seemed more on edge since Barry walked in, probably not expecting anyone else but Snart to have shown up. But Barry didn't look like much, he probably didn't think he'd be too much of a problem to whatever planswere supposed to go down tonight. Len couldn't help but smirk, little did they know under the geeky looking exterior the kid was Central City's own superhero.

"I'm not lying!" Barry stated defensively, before he took a drink of his soda.

"Don't bother." Len silenced him raising a hand. Honestly he was impressed that Barry was willing to lie to protect Len's own sister. But despite that it didn't change the fact he wasn't thrilled Lisa had contacted The Flash to help him.

"Look Snart you shouldn't be out here, you know they're looking for you."

"I know."

"No you need to listen to me you shouldn't be-." He paused a confused expression crossing the Speedster's face. "Wait? You know?"

"It's why I'm here." He pointed out in a hushed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He kept his voice low to prevent the bartender from over hearing what he was saying now.

"You want them to find you?" Barry questioned, his voice low as well leaning slightly closer so the two had a bit more privacy. "Are you insane?"

Leonard just smirked, not answering either of the questions just drinking the rest of his beer. This left Barry with a shocked expression his face, not sure how to process the fact that Len wanted these people to come get him. But their attention was drawn by the sound of more than one car screeching to a stop out front, and Len slowly lowered his glass down onto the counter.

"You need to leave Scarlet." He told him sternly, not wanting to get Barry involved in his mess.

"No."

"You're no help to me like this Barry ." He used his real name to point out the fact that he was not in his suit. He could hear the sound of car doors opening and voices shouting to each other. "Run." He told him, his fingers reaching down to pull the cold gun out of its holster. "Now."

Barry knew he wasn't asking for him to run away, they both knew perfectly well that he wouldn't leave Len there to fend for himself. He needed his suit on, these people couldn't see his real face, even just sitting next to Snart. They'd assume he was one of Len allies and start going after Barry and his family. But if they saw him use his speed he would make his way to the top of their hit list. Before the door could open or the bartender could turn around he was gone.

A group of men filed into the place, they were all rather large, dressed in pure black clothing. Leonard barely even glanced at them, but all the same managed to take everything in. There were nine of them, all of them looked like they'd been taking testosterone enhancers for a while now.

"What are you guys supposed to be? Some sort of steroid pumped boy band?" He questioned sarcastically, getting to his feet to look at the group of men who were now surrounding him.

"You should be dead." One of them spoke, and it was then Len recognized him from the night down in the warehouse. "How did you get out of that freezer?"

"A good magician never tells his secrets." Len replied with a smirk. "Now I take it you're not going to let me walk out of here easily huh?"

"You'll be lucky if you still can walk by the time we drag you out of here." One of them threw in, and the others started to heckle Len. But the smirk on his lips only grew wider at the comment.

"Now don't you think that's just a little... cold ?" He raised his hand aiming the gun at the nearest thug sending a blast of ice at his feet.

This caused an uproar among the men as weapons were drawn, some pulling out pipes others putting on brass knuckles. The man from the other night was the first to try swinging a punch at him, his knuckles decked out in sharp metal. Len ducked under him landing a blow straight to the thugs gut, sending out another blast from the gun as someone came up behind him about to heave a pipe trying to sneak a blow to his back. There was a crackle of electricity behind him and he knew the Speedster was back.

"Here I thought you must have gotten lost on the way here." Len muttered dryly to Barry, punching one of the men hard enough to send him straight to the ground. He noticed the Speedster just grimace under his mask before he went to take down one of the thugs, who now seemed surprised that Captain Cold was working along side The Flash.

"Your friend can't save you from us." The largest of the men stated, punching Len straight in the nose. He heard his recently reset nose pop out of place once more, and his gun was tossed from his hands. "Not so powerful without that now are you?" He questioned, tossing another punch into Len's side.

"Snart!" Barry called out, fighting off three of the men at once. He was trying to make his way over but every time he got close one of the thugs would get back up and start trying to hit him once again.

"First I'm going to kill you." The thug spoke to Leonard. "Then I'm going to kill that pretty little sister of yours. But I might make some use of her." He words were dripping with lascivious need.

Anger surged through Leonard and the temperature in the place dropped down to below freezing in half a second. The same sound of ice popping and cracking as frost climbed up the walls started to echo around the place, causing everyone to stop what they were doing.

"You're not going to touch her." He growled the words, punching hard. Only as he swung ice encased his arm, sharp jagged pieces sticking out at odd angles. His fist collided with the side of the thugs face and he heard him cry out in pain. Pulling his fist back he noticed the blood on the ice, and glanced up to see the large hole he'd torn into the thugs cheek. There was an eerie silence that followed the hit, all eyes on him. "Get out!" He snapped, and oddly enough the thugs listened. Some of them muttering how they 'didn't sign up to fight a meta', others too injured to protest. Soon he was standing there the Speedster across from him, his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Snart…" His voice was soft, as he stepped forward. "When...did this start?" He questioned, watching as the ice on Lens hand began to melt offpooling at his feet.

"It doesn't matter Scarlet." He had started to notice the temperature shifting when his emotions changed a couple days ago, but this was the first time that he'd actually made ice.

"It really does matter." Barry countered. "Len you're a meta."

"Don't call me that, I'm not like you ." He replied coldly. walking over to pick up his gun tucking it back into his holster.

"If you come to Star Labs we can help you...so you understand it." Barry offered.

"I said no kid, I'm not going to be your lab rat again, or join your band of heroes. Plus I know where you put those meta's, and I'm not in the mood to join them." He mocked shaking his head. Barry was to nice, to willing to help. Len didn't understand how someone could be so incredibly good, he seemed pure like darkness couldn't taint him. While Len was this dark twisted criminal. "Stay out of it."

"Snart, you just ripped part of a man's face off. You need help." Barry offered, reaching out to stop him from leaving. His fingers wrapping around the others forearm, he could feel Snart tense under his grip.

"I don't want your help." He snapped, but worry shot through him. The Speedster was warm, the first person to touch him that he actually felt warmth from since what had happened. Even through the layers that separated them, he could feel his heat. Quickly he snapped his arm away. "Follow me and I'll shoot you." He threatened, turning on his heel and leaving the place.


	4. Chapter 4

The rogues downtown safe house was freezing, there was ice on nearly every surface causing people to slip when they walked through the halls. At first they found it amusing, especially with it was Mick who took a spill in the hallway. But that had been days ago and now things were getting ridiculous. Everyone had bundled up in as many layers as they could fit on their bodies, Axel had even taken to building a blanket fort to campout in. But no matter how long they waited Len wouldn't come out of his room, only making short trips to the bathroom or kitchen when he was sure no one was paying attention. Ever since the night at the bar a week ago he had pretty much barricaded himself into his room, claiming that he was 'working on a new heist', but truthfully he didn't want people to see him like this. He was confused, afraid he might accidentally hurt someone. The stress he was holding over himself had him so worked up that he barely noticed that he had turned the place into a giant freezer.

"Hey Snart can you turn this off?" Mick Rory called through the door. "Shawna's drink just froze in her hand." He informed him, waiting for a reply but there was no sound. With a sigh the man made his way back into the living room and gave a shrug. "I tried talking to him, if he doesn't cut this out I'm going to use my gun."

"Yes because we all know how well that worked out last time." Hartley drew the words out, his eyes flickering up from the book in his hands. He was camped out in the arm chair in the corner of the room, buried in a pile of blankets that looked like they were about to swallow him whole. Mick growled about to storm across the room before Lisa stepped in.

"Sit down Mick, I'm going to try talking to him again." She told him, crossing her arms waiting for the man to take his seat. She watched as he did, glaring across the room at Hartley. "Oh and Hartley, don't play with fire." She warned.

Exiting the main room she made her way through the apartment. It wasn't one of their more luxurious safe houses but it was a bit more practical. Every step she took she was careful how she placed her weight so not to slip and fall, but years of ice skating had given her impeccable balance. She reached the end of the hall and stood outside her brother's door, it was notably colder the closer she got to him.

"Len open up." She called out banging her fist on the door. She waited a moment, but she didn't get a reply. "If you don't open this door I'm picking the lock." There was still no reply.

With a sigh she reached into her purse, pulling out the small lock picks she tended to always have on her, they were disguised in a makeup case. With skilled hands she busted the lock open, a proud smirk coming to her lips. Reaching for the doorknob she cringed a thin layer of ice breaking off as she turned it. Once the door was open a look of sadness washed over her. His room was so much worse than the rest of the house. He had placed a blanket at the cracks in the door trying to block the cold from escaping more than it already had. There was a layer of ice coating the floor that was at least an inch thick, the blankets on the bed looked frozen solid. Icicles hung off of anything they could cling to, and the sunlight was dim unable to shine through the frosted windows properly. There sitting at his desk in a short sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans was her brother, he was fussing over some blueprints trying to distract himself.

"Oh Lenny." She whispered her eyes wide, walking forward to place her hand on his shoulder. But she immediately pulled her hand back when she felt how cold he was. "This isn't good, you need to warm up."

"I'm fine." He grumbled, not looking up from the blueprints in his hands.

"Fine? There's nothing fine about this." Lisa exclaimed. "Everyone is freezing out there, and you're room is like an ice rink." She informed him. "You're so cold Len." She told him, shrugging out of her jacket and trying to put it around his shoulders, but he just handed it back to her.

"I'm fine Lisa, I don't feel it." He told her bluntly. "If everyone is so cold take them to another safe house."

"Everyone's to worried about you to leave you alone." She replied softly, but those weren't words that he wanted to hear.

"There's nothing to worry about. I'm fine." He snapped, frost starting to creep onto the blueprints in his hands. "Everyone can leave."

"Christ Len would you just listen to me for five seconds? This here is not fine!" She yelled. "You are not fine, what is happening is nowhere near fine. You need to get this under control." She gave him a serious glance. "You need help."

"I don't need any goddamn help! Get out!" He growled turning his gaze back to the blueprints in his hands hoping she'd take the signal to leave. But she was a Snart which meant she was nothing if not persistent.

"Look at me!" She snapped, reaching forward to yank the blue prints out of his hands. But he grabbed her wrist to stop her, that was when she screamed. Her hand became encased in a thick layer of ice that was so cold it burned.

Leonard jumped out of his chair letting her hand go and skidded back a few steps his eyes wide. He had hurt his sister, something he swore he would never do in his life. He was the one who was supposed to protect her, keep her safe. But now he was a liability to her. He hadn't meant for this to happen, but it was too late.

"Shawna!" He called out in a gruff urgent voice. Within seconds the woman was at the door, it was likely she had teleported there. He didn't need to explain the situation, the woman was at Lisa's side, taking her by the arm and leading her out of the room quickly. He could hear a commotion out in the hall as Shawna began shouting orders at everyone. Len took a few steps back, sitting on the bed in the corner of the room. The sheets crackled under him, and he just stared blankly at the wall.

Thirty minutes later there was a soft knock on the door to his room, which had been left open after the accident with Lisa. Shawna stood there, a frown pulling at the corners of her lips.

"Lisa will be fine, we thawed her hand out fast enough that we could save her fingers." She explained. "She has severe frostbite though, most of the skin on the hand is dead." She told him.

Len continued to stare blankly in front of him trying to process that information. His sister almost lost her fingers because of him, because he couldn't control this. He hated it, he hated himself for doing it. He'd always been so controlled, so level headed, he worked for years to master his own emotions. But these powers had thrown in a major kink into his everyday life, and it was becoming dangerous.

"Snart you need help." She told him.

"I know."

* * *

"You really need to be more careful out there Barry." Caitlin scolded as she stitched up his side, trying to work fast enough that she could get it to heal properly.

Barry had gone after the same meta human who had been terrorising the city for a few weeks. It turned out the guy could do more than turn himself into gas or liquid, he could turn his already solid self into an even denser form. This had lead to Barry getting stabbed in the side mid battle, but at the end of the night he had won. Which was the only important part to him.

"We got the guy didn't we?" He questioned cringing as she pushed the needle through once again. "Plus I didn't die."

"If those are your standards for a good night I'm extremely worried." She scolded, pushing the needle through for the last time before finishing up the stitches. "You should be healed fully in a few hours, but until then no running." She told him.

"Yes Doctor." Barry replied letting out a sigh and sitting up in the hospital bed. He scrunched his face up as a pain shot through his side, it was a shame pain medicine didn't work on him. As he stretched, the muscles in his chest rippled always in a constant state of flex since the lightning. He reached for his Star Labs sweater throwing it over his head quickly, which earned him another scolding from Caitlin

"Dude, that was awesome." Cisco stated in his normal over excited voice. "The whole running so fast you made a barrier of air that prevent him from escaping was genius. You forced him into his solid form and boom, super sonic punch baby!" He let out a laugh. "That's never not going to be cool."

"Don't encourage him." Caitlin sighed, knowing that she pretty much worked with two giant children. "He was reckless and could have gotten himself killed."

"So basically just another normal night?" Barry questioned with a chuckle. Caitlin just gave a sigh and shook her head, muttering something under her breath about 'stress'. Across the room an alarm started to go off, drawing the attention of the three of them. Cisco was the first to react running back over towards the computer.

"That's the security alarm someone's come in the front entrance. We're you guys expecting anyone?" He questioned, going through the programs to pull up the security cameras. He shuffled through them until he managed to find the intruder on one of the camera's in the halls. "Man who invited Captain Cold?" He questioned.

"Snart's here?" Barry asked moving behind the monitor to get a good look at the screen. Sure enough there the older man was walking through the hall, the hood on his parka down to let his face be seen. Everytime he passed one of the camera's he glanced into it despite the fact they were supposed to be hidden. The three turned to face the entrance as he approached it on the camera's.

"Well if it isn't the three musketeers, Ginger, Frodo and Jailbait." He commented, his eyes meeting Barry's on the last word, causing a small flush to cross the speedster's face.

"What do you want Captain Cold?" Cisco questioned, never passing up an opportunity to use one of his nicknames.

"I'm here to accept your offer." He stated simply.

"What offer?" A confused expression crossed Caitlin's face, and she glanced at the other two. But Cisco had the same expression on his face.

"He's here so he can learn to control his powers." Barry informed, thinking back to the offer he had made at Saints and Sinners a week ago. "I've told you he was developing powers, he didn't accept my help my first offer. So what's changed?"

Len was still the doorway as a dark expression crossed his face, remembering what exactly he had done that lead him to this point. He just gave a shrug walking a bit further into the room, causing everyone but Barry to tense up.

"I just absolutely missed the shitty food you fed me and being poked with needles." He replied sarcastically. "But I'm sure I can find someone else to help-"

"No, we'll help you. Caitlin, can you run a few tests, see if there's been any major spikes in the dark matter in his blood?" Barry cut in, he knew if something had brought Snart to them of all people it must have been pretty bad.

Caitlin gave a hesitant look before nodding, motioning for Snart to follow after her. The older man glanced at Barry for a moment, before following her into the medical area. Through the glass Barry could see Caitlin going through all the routine tests, checking his blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, even drawing some blood from him.

"Why do you think he's here?" Cisco questioned quietly.

"I don't know, but I'll talk to him." Barry replied, waiting for a few minutes for Caitlin to finish up and leave before he entered the room. Sliding the glass door closed behind him, he noticed that the room was noticeably colder than normal; but it didn't bug Barry since he generated so much body heat that it took a lot for the cold to get to him. Snart glanced up at him from where he was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. His parka was off, sleeve rolled up past his elbow where Caitlin had drawn blood revealing the tribal tattoos underneath. They covered his arm all the way from his wrist disappearing under the shirt, but Barry was certain they probably went up a lot farther.

"Scarlet." He greeted dryly glancing up at Barry.

"What happened?" Barry questioned, taking a seat in the chair closest to the bed.

"I don't know what you mean." Snart knew exactly what he meant, and felt his stomach drop a bit at the memory.

"What brought you here, you were pretty instant on the fact that you didn't want our help." Barry reminded him. "You're not the type of guy to come to us unless something happened." He raised his eyebrows pausing for a moment. "I saw it on your face when you walked in here, I can see it now. Something happened."

Silence fell upon them as Len tried to figure out if he should tell Barry about what happened, and the better part of him told him not to. But when Barry looked at him with those worried green eyes he found himself explaining the situation.

"I hurt Lisa." He told him a frown pulling at his lips. "I didn't mean to do it, she was yelling at me to get help and I grabbed her wrist to keep her from pulling something out of my hands and I froze her hand." He replied solemnly. "It was bad, but Shawna managed to fix it before it did any irreversible damage."

Barry nodded as he spoke, reaching out to press a comforting hand to Len's shoulder, causing the man to tense up once again. He never realized how cold he must really be until Barry touched him like this and he remembered what warmth felt like. After a moment he pulled his hand back and the speedster stood up.

"We'll help you."


	5. Chapter 5

"You know when I agreed to go on this little field trip of yours, this was not in the deal. " Snart commented, as Cisco worked on turning on all the devices in the jacket. The entire outfit was a little comical. He was wearing thermal grade pants, that were supposed to help keep his body heat in, but they were also skin-tight, the same went for the shirt. Every detail of his muscles was visible through them, and it was rubbing him in all the wrong ways. Thankfully they had allowed Snart to keep his parka on if he agreed to let Cisco hook up a something to temporarily monitor his vitals and temperature into the jacket.

They were at the same airfield that nearly two years ago Barry had been brought to when he first woke up to test his speed. The only difference now was the forthcoming winter breeze, and the company. Everything else remained the same even after all this time. The place was untouched seemingly forgotten by the rest of society. Dead overgrown weeds peaked through the cracks in the pavement, and scrap pieces of metal were scattered near the end of the lane.

"This suit is stupid." Snart continued, a frown pulling at the corner of his lips. "Maybe you should add someone to design the costumes to your little team of heroes." He muttered dryly, earning an insulted look from Cisco.

"Hey it's nowhere near as bad as the first thing they made me wear." Barry told him, trying to ease the tension. "It was a friction proof unitard that was fire truck red. You're lucky that you have what you do."

"Kinky." Snart smirked as Cisco finished hooking him up. He glanced over at the Speedster watching as a flush went to his pale cheeks. It was so easy to get him flustered, he honestly enjoyed having the power to wind him up so easily.

"Moving on." Barry cleared his throat. "The suit that Cisco made should be monitoring your body temperatures and your heart rate. So if this takes a lot of energy out of you we'll be able to figure out what your limit is. Are you ready?"

"I think I've got it, I'm a _fast_ learner." He replied, earning a groan from the Speedster.

"Okay, so I want you to try to concentrate your energy on throwing ice at the targets down the track." Cisco explained, motioning to the archery bullseyes. "Try to just make spheres of them, and not send a full blast towards it."

Len turned and looked at the targets that were stationed between twenty and forty feet down the track. He cracked his knuckles and focused on drawing his powers out. He swung his right arm forward as though he was going to jab someone in the chest. Ice crackled out, only not in a small chunk like they had hoped for, no ice shot out covering the ground in jagged points some of which were up to three feet high, until it reached the target nearly tearing the object apart. Silence fell amongst the team, as Len cursed under his breath.

"Uh yeah like that only, you know nothing like that." Cisco replied. "Try it again." he insisted.

With a sigh Len rubbed his hands together, trying once again to hit another target, but this time was no better than the first, the trail of ice leading from where he was standing straight to the target. When it came to failure he didn't handle it well, anger surging through him. Truthfully he'd been angry throughout this entire process. He didn't like the fact that he needed the help of The Flash and his team, it didn't sit right with him. Made him uneasy, and failing in front of them was even worse. Ice began to crackle along the ground under his feet proving he wasn't happy.

"Hey." Barry walked up beside him. "Breathe, I know it's tough but right now your anger is getting in the way. You need to learn how to control it through your anger, so breathe." Barry told him, giving him a soft smile. Len felt himself relax, and he knew he should be more tense around the kid but something about having him there was calming.

Len closed his eyes, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. He did his best to reign his emotions in, focusing himself. He imagined what it was he was trying to do, and as he exhaled he turned throwing a large sphere of ice through the air straight into the target. A smirk came to his lips, and he heard Cisco cheering loudly in the background. His eyes met the Speedster's and saw him grinning brightly at him, Len had to force himself to look away from him. The kid was contagious, his pure joy and honesty was so infuriating and infatuation at the same time.

"Do it again." Barry encouraged.

Turning back to the target he pushed his hand forward slicing through the air another ball of ice slamming into the targets with a satisfying 'whoosh'.

"Okay, now try focusing on just the target and freezing only it." Cisco instructed.

Len took another deep breath , closing his eyes and without moving any part of his body the target began to slowly be engulfed in ice. Exhaling he opened his eyes. looking at what he had done a feeling of accomplishment filling him.

"Interesting." Caitlin mumbled. "When you were focusing on controlling your emotions the overall temperature of the area went back to normal, except for when you shot the blast but it was isolated to the blast area. Which I think shows that you can learn to use your abilities without impacting the people around you." She was still tense, but she gave a smile. "But as handy as that is I think we should also focus on having you learn to control them while angry."

"Yeah, the whole turning rooms to ice when you get irritated, is you know...not to fun." Cisco muttered. Len had managed to freeze some of the tech in Star Labs causing it to short-circuit, which had Cisco had yet to forgive him for. "How about we test this out on a moving target?"

"Moving target?" Len questioned raising an eyebrow. "What do you have in mind?"

"Me." Barry replied proudly. "I'm going to run and you're going to try to hit me." He explained shrugging out of his jacket and his jogging pants. It appeared they had planned this segment as he was wearing his Flash suit under his clothes.

"As fun as that sounds Scarlet, last I remembered you and the cold don't mix."

"Cisco has upgraded my suit so now I can withstand temperatures that are both extremely warm and extremely cold. So _if_ you do manage to hit me, It won't leave any lasting injuries." Barry told him, pulling the cowl on his suit up to protect his face. "But remember that's a big _if_."

" _Big_ if? I didn't peg you for the size queen type Scarlet." Len smirked. He watched as Barry opened his mouth to say something but then closed it a slight flush to the Speedster's pale skin under this mask. Without a word he sped down the track stopping about fourty feet away his arms crossed.

"Okay Snart, try to hit him." Cisco instructed.

With a sigh Len pulled his arm back before pushing it forward like he was throwing a baseball. A large chunk of ice went flying through the air directly towards where Barry had been standing. But by the time it should have reached him the Speedster was about five feet to the left.

"Brat." Len muttered, repeating his actions and flinging another chunk of ice in his direction, only to find that Barry would move just a few steps out of the way of the blow. The quicker he dodged the quicker Len would send the next wave at him. But he couldn't seem to catch up with him.

"Alright now Snart take defense, try to stop Barry from reaching you." Cisco shouted over top of the sparring.

Len watched the smirk pass over the Speedster's face and that was the only signal he got that he was coming towards him. A part of him knew that he'd never be able to hit him right now so he took a different tactic. He froze the ground a thick sheet of ice covering the area for about twenty feet in front of him. The second Barry hit the ice he began to slip losing traction as he ran. He slowed himself down to normal speed to try to catch his balance but it was to late he was sliding straight into Snart. The younger mans body ran right into Len's knocking them both to the ground with Barry on top. Len just froze, suddenly engulfed in the warmth that was Barry. Their bodies tangled together as they tried to sort themselves out. Len didn't work as fast as he could have, enjoying what it felt like to actually feel the heat of something. But it was gone all too soon as Barry got to his feet.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to knock you down." He apologized sheepishly. "The ice was good though, you realized you wouldn't be able to hit me while I was running, so you took my speed out of the equation all together." He complimented reaching a hand down to help Len up. "That was smart."

Len stared at the red gloved hand for a moment before taking it letting Barry help him back to his feet. The action shocked everyone, since he wasn't the type of guy who took help. But here he was letting the Speedster pull him up to his feet. He glanced around at the team of scientists.

"Close your mouths and let's keep working."

* * *

Things at the safe house had started to get better, though the place was still a little cold it was livable. They had even started to make jokes about how they wouldn't need an air conditioner in the summer as long as Len was around. This of course had earned them a glare from the older man, but he did enjoy that people weren't so wound up about it anymore. Lisa's hand had been healing well, it wasn't pretty but it would be fine. Every Time Len saw it he felt a pang of guilt, remembering it was him who did it to her. But Lisa wouldn't hold it against him, she was to understanding. After the initial shock she was back to normal and when she went to talk to Len about it he told her he would accept the help from Star Labs; So long as they didn't tell the other Rogues.

After the long practice at the air strip Len found himself dragging his feet towards the shower. Using his powers for long periods of time was draining, unlike Barry his powers didn't let him regenerate energy faster. He stripped out of his parka, tossing his shirt off after making his way over to turn the shower on. While the water warmed up he worked his way out of his pants and his socks. He leaned against the sink for a moment waiting until he could see steam fogging up the frosted glass. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him so water wouldn't leak out onto the bathroom floor. The shower was one of the few times he could feel warm, having the warm water dripping over his chest enveloping him in the warmth. It reminded him of earlier, the feeling of Barry's body pressed against his when the Speedster had lost his balance on the ice. Barry was the only one who could seem to bear touching him these days, and Len was starting to notice he didn't hate it.

Just the thought of earlier sent a strange rush of arousal through him, and Len started to soap down his tattooed chest doing his best to ignore the fact he was semi-erect. He did his best to focused on getting himself cleaned, being even more thorough than normal in an attempt to distract himself. But for some reason he only got harder, till he was painfully stiff. Len tried to blame it on the fact he had been far too busy to masturbate lately and this was just pent-up hormones demanding his attention. That was how he justified a soapy hand moving lower grasping his dick in a calloused hand. He started to stroke himself slowly, letting his eyes fall closed. He tried to think of some porno's he may have seen, or a mysterious stranger helping him. But every time his mind drifted back to Barry, imagining him on his knees in front of Len. He thought out about his lips sucking him off, his green eyes staring up at him lustfully as he did his best to suck every drop out of him. Len wanted to run his fingers through the younger man's hair, to hear all the filthy noises he could get the Speedster to make. Len started to stroke himself faster the closer he got the less guilty he felt, his breathing started to become irregular and he did his best to keep quiet. The picture of Barry with swollen lips, bright eyes and Len's cock down his throat was what sent him over the edge. Letting out a grunt he pumped himself to an orgasm his seed spilling out over his hand and landing on the wall of the shower.

He had to lean back against the glass to catch his breath, and once the post orgasm bliss faded he realized he had a problem. He had just gotten himself off thinking about the man he was supposed to consider his arch rival. Now Len might have been able to justify this had his fantasy been a bit more rough, but it hadn't been. He had imagined running his fingers through the mans chestnut hair, the slow building climax. Guiltily Len started to clean himself up, which didn't take long in the shower, before shutting it off and stepping out. He quickly grabbed a towel to dry himself off with, and stepped out. The bathroom was attached to his room, which one of the reasons he had picked it. All he had to do was walk a few steps before he collapsed onto his bed. His body was physically exhausted, and now he had a few things he needed to wrap his mind around.


	6. Chapter 6

Friday night in the West household could only mean one thing, it was family night. Ever since Barry had been a kid and started living with Joe and Iris they had spent nearly every friday together. As kids it tended to mean they'd get take out and play cards, but as they grew older Barry would rather have a home cooked meal. He ate so much fast food or frozen pizza these days that he tended to forget what a real home cooked meal tasted like. Joe used to cook with Iris and Barry in the kitchen some nights, trying to teach them how to make steak or pasta. Iris took to it better than he had. When it came to cooking Barry was more likely to burn the kitchen down then make a successful dinner. He did try to learn, but after a few too many 'accidents' he was banned from helping. He didn't much mind, to him he prefered eating the food rather than preparing it. When it came to Barry he mostly lived off food he could microwave or toast, so these family dinners were always one of his favourite parts of the week.

"Iris?" Barry called out as he entered the house. Like normal Iris had shown up an hour before Barry got off work to start cooking.

"In the kitchen." She replied from around the corner.

Barry couldn't see her but he could smell what she was cooking, and his stomach growled in a silent appreciation to it. Quickly he stepped out of his shoes and tossed his jacket over the back of the couch. Something Joe would no doubt nag him about later, since the coat rack was only five steps away. But right now he was to distracted by the heavenly smell drawing him towards the kitchen.

"Do I smell-"

"Ribs." Iris finished the question with an answer a proud grin coming to her face. "With grandpa West's famous sauce." She told him.

"You know how I feel about ribs Iris." He replied a grin coming to his lips.

"Yup I know, you'd marry them if you could. But sadly here in America your undying love is illegal." She joked. "Now get out of the kitchen before you get your bad cooking mojo on me." She pressed her hands on Barry's shoulders pushing him out of the kitchen towards the living room.

"Okay, okay I'm going." He replied, walking across the floor before plopping onto the couch a smile on his lips. It was nice to see her happy, ever since Eddie's death she had been out of it. He had heard that she was trying to date again, seeing someone from work. But Iris wouldn't give him a lot of details. He figured she was still nervous about it, half a year had passed but that would still be a fresh wound to try to close.

For a few minutes Barry clicked through the television channels, watching the first few seconds of a show before switching to the next one. He wasn't looking for anything in particular just trying to pass the time. About fifteen minutes later the front door opened and he heard heavy steps walk in. He didn't have to turn around to know it was Joe, he could tell from the sigh he let out when he smelt the food and how he carefully hung his jacket up.

"Do I smell-?" Joe started, before Barry cut him off.

"Ribs!" He replied, turning in his seat to grin at Joe.

"Thank god one of you guys can cook." He teased walking forward before pausing at the sight of Barry's jacket hanging over the back of the couch. "Barry we've talked abou-" Before he could finish his complaint Barry sped hanging up the jacket in super speed and sitting back down a mock clueless expression on his face. Joe just gave a sigh and shook his head with a chuckle. "Smart ass."

"Hey can one of you guys set the table?" Iris called out from the kitchen. That was the rule here, who ever cooked didn't have to set the table or do the dishes. Which normally meant Barry was the one stuck with those jobs, but these days it got much easier.

With a crackle of electricity in the air Barry was on his feet running passed the seemingly slow motion bodies of his family into the kitchen. He opened the cupboard grabbing the plates and glasses zipping around the table to grab the utensils. Knowing he had all the time in the world he filed a pitcher of water and set it in the middle of the table before coming to a stop with a grin. Joe had only just gotten to his feet to help, and Iris raised her eyebrows before giving a laugh.

"Does this mean Joe's on dish duty?" Barry questioned with a cocky grin as he took his normal seat at the table. He always sat in the right chair that was closest to the wall, Iris would sit across from him and Joe would sit at the head of the table between them. It had always been that way, and once more they fell into that natural habit.

Iris brought the food to the table, setting down two plates of ribs in the middle before going back to grab the salad she had tossed together to go with it. They all settled into their seats and began to dig into the food. These days Iris always made twice as much as she used to knowing Barry could eat the entire thing if you let him. Twenty minutes into the meal Iris was poking at her salad obviously full, and Joe leaned back in his chair letting out a content sigh.

"That was good, but I don't think I can take another bite." He commented.

Barry sheepishly brought the rib in his hand up to his mouth for another bite, he had eaten nearly a full rack of ribs on his own and he looked like he could eat what was left of Joe and Iris's. Joe just let out a laugh.

"It's harder feeding you now then it was when you were going through puberty." He commented.

"Let's not talk about my pubescent years at the dinner table." Barry mumbled between bites before tossing the bone onto his plate.

"Yeah I'm going to have to agree with Barr on that one, puberty is a subject that we've both buried years ago." Iris agreed with a small laugh. "So tell me about work today?A little birdy told me a certain someone may have their eye on you Barry." She teased.

Barry froze for a moment before giving Joe a look. He had been trying to keep it on the down low but apparently Joe and Iris gossip like a pair of teenage girls. Honestly he didn't want people to know because he wasn't interested in the person, but he was to nice of a guy to just flat-out refuse.

"I...no?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"Oh come on, tell me about it." Iris urged. "Is she pretty? Have you asked her out yet?"

"Iris it's not like that." Barry sighed. "Me and Patty aren't going to happen." He had gone out of his way to avoid the advances of Joe's new partner. But Barry being nice had come off as flirting, or at least Joe thought so.

"Why not? From what I've heard she sounds like a great girl."

"She is." He agreed. "I'm just not really looking for anything right now." It was the truth, he had only just recently gotten over Iris and when it came to Patty despite how pretty she may be, all his feelings were strictly platonic.

"I'm going to have to agree with Iris on this one, it would be good for you to go on a few dates. Even if she is my partner, she's a good woman." He told him, in his best dad voice.

"I know I don't have the best love life out there, but I'm honestly just not interested in her." He replied with a small sigh.

"Then who are you interested in?" Iris questioned raising her eyebrows.

A blush crept to Barry's cheeks as the image of his body on top of Snarts came to mind for a brief moment. He would never admit it, but being pressed up against his chest even for the briefest moment hadn't been that bad.

"No one." He stated wiping his hands on the napkin beside him.

"Is that a blush I see?" Iris gave a sly grin. "Oh Barry you like someone." She teased. "Who is it?"

"Iris don't pry, if Barry doesn't want to say then leave it be." Joe scolded.

"Oh come on don't pretend you're not interested to. At least tell me if I know them." She requested giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

"You don't know them, because there isn't anyone to know." He told her, swallowing hard.

"Don't play that game-" Her protest was cut off by the sound of Barry's cell phone going off, followed by Joe's a few seconds later. The two exchanged glances before answer them.

"Cisco?" Barry questioned.

" _Dude, get your suit asap there was just a call in to the CCPD Trickster was spotted he has hostages-_ " Cisco spoke into the phone, and Barry could hear the slight panic in his voice.

"I'm on my way." Barry replied cutting him off and hanging up the phone to look at Joe who was obviously getting the same news.

"Run Barry." Joe told him on his feet heading towards the door.

He didn't need more encouragement than that, he was out of the house in a flash. Six seconds later he was standing in front of Caitlin and Cisco in his suit.

"Where?" He questioned

"Trickster was spotted at the Central City Bank of Commerce." Caitlin told him a determined look on her face. They didn't need to speak more than that, because the second the location was out of her mouth Barry was gone.

The Speedster didn't stop running till he was inside of the bank, the scene in front of him was typical. There weren't to many people only the odd straggler and the staff due to the time; all of which were now sitting against a wall with a scared look on their face. A lone woman was in the back opening up the Vault at gunpoint.

"Axel!" Barry called out to the young Trickster. He expected him to freeze but instead a smirk crawled onto the mans lips.

"Flash." He drawled the name out. "How nice of you to finally join us. I was wondering when you were going to get here." He pushed the gun a bit closer to the woman to signal her to keep unlocking the vault.

"You're coming with me Axel, drop the gun." Barry warned.

"I don't think so. See here's the thing you're going to let me go and you're not going to have a choice in it." His tone was confident.

"Why would I do that?" Barry questioned, an unamused tone to his voice.

"Because I've hidden five bombs around the city all of which are going to go off in about…" He looked at his watch. "Forty six seconds. Let me just add I've placed these bombs in very public locations. Now what's your choice Flash? Arrest me? Or let hundreds of innocent people die?" Barry let out a huff and turned on the spot, he didn't have a choice. With that he was speeding through the city.

"Did you hear that?" Barry questioned.

" _Already on it._ " Cisco told him through the comm. "I'm scanning the area, looks like the first one is at Central Train Station."

Barry took a hard right, and within three seconds he was at the train station scanning the area until he found the cardboard box shoved under one of the benches.

"Everyone out of here!" Barry called out to the civilians, who seemed to get the situation without further words. "Caitlin how do I disarm this?" He questioned hitting the flash symbol on his chest to turn on the camera there.

" _Okay it looks like your standard run of the mill pipe bomb. It's homemade that's for sure-_ "

"Caitlin, thirty six seconds." Barry rushed her.

" _Right, right. Cut the blue wire._ "

Barry did as he was told letting out a breath as the timer went off.

" _Next one is at Central Public High School. There's a football game going on tonight Barry._ " Cisco warned, knowing that meant the casualty list just got a lot bigger.

It didn't take Barry long to arrive and find the box under the bleachers. He cut the wire and was off to the next place, which happened to be in the middle of a shopping centre. At the sight of what Barry was doing everyone went into a panic, but he managed to disable it quickly. The fourth bomb was at one of Central's more popular cineplex's. This one was a bit trickier to solve, but with Caitlin speaking in his ear he managed to get it down.

"Cisco where is the last one?" Barry questioned a panic in his voice, they were down to fourteen seconds on the clock.

" _I'm not picking anything up, there is no other bomb._ " He replied with a frown. " _I've double scanned that's the last one._ "

"But he said there's five that was only four."

" _There is no other bomb, that was the last one. Barry, Axles at the bank he's on the roof, you can still get him!_ "

Barry cursed in his head, hoping Cisco was right. He sped back to the bank coming to a stop on the roof as it hit the last second. He waited, but no where in the city was there an explosion going off. Axel turned to face him, he was loading the money into a helicopter with the help of a few thugs. Barry couldn't help but wonder where they managed to get a helicopter but he figured that was a question for later.

"You're coming with me Axel!" Barry called out a firm look on his face. "I know there was only four bombs." The 'fifth' one was just an excuse that would have bought him more time to keep him running around looking for it, but Barry's team managed to figure that one out.

"Clever." He mused, tossing the last bag into the helicopter. "Only you're wrong." He stated simply. "There is a fifth bomb." He reached into his pocket pulling out a what looked like a metal sphere that was about the size of a baseball. "And once it's on there's no disarming it." With that he clicked a button on the top.

" _Another bomb just showed up on the map-_ " Cisco started

"I know, I'm looking at it."

"Fifteen seconds Flash, better think of something." Axel replied tossing the sphere towards Barry, who caught it hesitantly in his hands. He had to get this thing out of here where it could seriously hurt someone. He calculated the distance from here to the pier, normally it would take him twenty seconds, but today he didn't have that choice.

Barry ran, holding the sphere in his hand as he sprinted faster than he ever had before. Only it stopped feeling like he was pushing himself forward and started feeling like something was pulling him to go faster. He could feel the crackle of electricity around him and saw the water approaching over the horizon. Once he reached it he didn't slow down apart of him knew he didn't need to. He moved fast enough that he could run across the top of the water like it was solid ground. Once he was fifty meters out he hurled the object as hard as he could over the water, turning to run as far back as he could. He heard the explosion behind him as he approached the shore, the shock wave slamming into his back sending him flying into the sand. Instinctively he covered the back of his head with his hand as the blast caught up to him, a wave of fire stopping a few feet from the water edge, but he could still feel the heat from it.

" _Barry_!" Caitlins voice came through the comm a worried edge to it. " _Are you okay?_ "

Coughing out some sand Barry rolled from his stomach onto his back, staring up at the smoke in the sky above him for him.

"I'm...peachy." He replied with a groan.


	7. Chapter 7

You are incredibly stupid you know that Scarlet?" Len questioned from his seat, which he had stolen a few minutes previous when Barry left to go to the bathroom. They had been repeating a clip of Barry chucking the bomb into the water all morning on the news which was playing on the mounted flat screen in the cortex. Some bystander had been trying to record a video with his friends and instead got a lot more than they had bargained for. But today they were calling him a hero, which was better than the alternative.

"Shut up." Barry muttered. Most of his bruises from the previous night were already gone, but he was still grumpy due to his lack of sleep.

"Seriously you need to give more thought before you run into a situation like that." Snart told him. "Or maybe you want to get yourself blown up."

"I'm standing right here in once piece, I can't be that stupid." Barry replied, moving to grab the remote of the desk and shut off the Star Labs flat screen.

"I was enjoying watching you eat a face full of sand." Snart complained a smirk on his lips.

"Where did one of your Rogues get a helicopter?" Barry questioned, changing the subject.

"I don't question how they spend their share of the money, I do know he has more than enough to buy himself helicopter. But let me tell you this Scarlet I didn't have anything to do with that robbery, that was a solo job."

"I see, well we have work to do today." Barry told him with a sigh passing over the topic. "Cisco and I set up a training range in the basement the other day so we don't have to go to the air strip everytime."

"Oh goody." Len replied dryly. "When will the rest of your fellowship being showing up?" He questioned sarcastically.

"Did you just reference Lord of the Rings?" Barry questioned his mouth open in shock. The idea that Snart knew any kind of movie seemed weird to him. He just seemed like the type of guy who would be oblivious to anything outside of crime.

"I haven't been living under a rock Barry, I do have a life outside of my heists." He informed him with a sigh.

"Wait so have you seen the new Hobbit movies?" Barry questioned his eyes lighting up. It was so weird to think Len might know pop culture, but the guy probably did have down time once in a while.

"Yes, now how about we get back to business here? You were talking about this new training space?" He questioned, his eyes glancing around the cortex. It was weird to be here with just Barry, normally the other two members of his team were here. But he had shown up early, and the speedster had apparently spent the night here

"Oh right. Yeah it's pretty nice. It used to be an underground parking area but it hasn't been used in years. So me and Cisco fixed the place up, added some training areas for you." He informed, biting his lip out of habit. Len noticed this is eyes flickering to the Speedster's mouth before he even knew what he was doing. Thankfully the younger man didn't seem to notice, as that was the moment the two lab rats showed up.

"Hey sorry we're late we stopped to pick up some coffees." Caitlin stated walking in with a cardboard tray that had four cups in it. "Jitters was pretty backed up so we ran a bit behind." She gave an apologetic smile.

"Oh thank god coffee." Barry rasped zipping over to Caitlin who handed Barry his cup.

"Yup three sugars and three creams in it just how you like it." She replied, those words earned a snort from Len.

"Enough sugar there Scarlet?" He questioned, surprised when the redhead offered him a cup as well.

"We didn't exactly know what you liked so I hope this is okay." She was starting to be a bit less tense around him. Something that made Len feel more comfortable being there but also worried that they no longer were seeing him as a threat. He accepted the coffee and took a drink of it giving a nod.

"It's not bad, I normally just drink my coffee black." He replied honestly. "What kind is it?" He questioned bringing the cup up to his lips.

"Oh it's their new drink 'The Flash'." She told him with a smile. Len choked on the drink for a moment before he glared at Barry.

"They named a drink after you?" He questioned eyebrows raised.

"Mhmm." Barry replied while drinking his coffee contentedly. "Try the hero thing sometime maybe you'll get a sandwich." He joked with a lopsided grin, it was the type of smile that could melt even the coldest of hearts. "It would be called 'The Captain Cold Cut'." He continued proud of his own joke.

"It doesn't pay to have a sandwich named after you." He replied, shaking his head. He found something endearing about Barry, but he swallowed back those feelings with another gulp of coffee. "Alright so let's get this show on the road."

Down the parking garage turned training area Len was not happy, the three had been spent the last hour testing out how far he was able to use his powers before he lost control of them. But their second suggestion had him both annoyed and slightly amused.

"No." He stated firmly.

"It will help." Caitlin insisted gently, hoping that the softer she talked the more likely it would be to convince him. But it became obvious Len wasn't falling for it. She glanced at the small desk with a computer attached to it that was measuring all kinds of readings.

"Not happening."

"Come on dude, just give it a shot five minutes?" Cisco added with a sigh.

"No, and Ramon don't call me 'Dude'." He replied a sneer on his lips.

"Snart, this could really help. On the air strip when you focused your attention inward your control increased. Meditation could be one of the answers to self control." Barry told him.

Len paused glancing between the three before letting out a sigh, when Barry asked him he found it hard to refuse. The Speedster was subconsciously giving him the puppy dog eyes, which was just unfair.

"Fine."

"Sweet! Do you want some calming music? We have some mats you can sit on." Cisco told him motioning towards some old blue gymnastic mats. "You can do the humming thing if it helps." He continued, but was shut up as Len glared him down.

Reluctantly he made his way over to the mat, figuring it would be more comfortable than the cement floor. He took a seat, and closed his eyes trying to focus on his breathing working on collecting all his emotions and calming them.

"Do you think it's going to work?" Caitlin whispered.

"I don't know if the dude knows what 'inner chi' even is." Cisco replied.

"Just let him try." Barry told them quietly, looking at the back of Snarts head.

"But what if it doesn't work?" Caitlin continued.

"I can hear you." Len stated with an irritated tone.

This seemed to shut the three up as they fell into a silence. He could feel their gaze on the back of his head but decided to ignore it. Letting out a breath he did his best to focus all his energy inward. He remembered something his mother used to tell him before she left, how to calm himself down whenever he was upset in anyway. Slowly he began to count backwards from twelve in his head.

'One, two, three, four,five-'

"The room temperature is rising." Caitlin whispered.

'six, seven, eight-'

"It's gone up nearly ten degrees."

'nine, ten, eleven, twelve.'

"We've reached average room temperature." There was a mix of shock and amazement in her voice.

"Not going to lie, I didn't think that was going to work." Cisco stated, staring at the computer screen as though if he didn't see the data he wouldn't believe it. "So all Cold has to do is become a monk and then we're good right?"

"Not happening." Len replied opening his eyes. He pushed himself to his feet, a bit proud of himself for what he just accomplished. But his attention was drawn to the sound of someones phone buzzing. He watched as the three looked between everyone scrambling to see if it was their phone, but in the end it was Barry's.

"Hey Joe." He answered, turning away so his back was to the group, as though that would somehow keep the conversation private. "Really? It's my day off." He gave a small sigh. "Yeah I'll be there in a minute." He hung up the phone and gave a sheepish look to the group. "Sorry, works calling me in they need my help on a new case. Do you guys think you can do this without me?"

Len felt a wave of disappointment go through him, the idea of spending time with the two lab rats without the Speedster around seemed boring. Barry made things interesting, he was able to keep up with his banter and even return it. But despite his disappointment he kept his face neutral.

"Uh...yeah we should be good." Cisco was hesitant. "But if you don't hear from us in an hour you should maybe come back with some blow dryers."

"I'm not going to freeze your friends Barry, go to work." He told him simply. After a moment the brunette nodded and speed off.

"Sooo." Cisco started looking at Snart. "Let's try that again."

"No."

"What? You just did it? What's different now?" Cisco questioned with a baffled expression.

"I'm not in the mood for it anymore." It was partly true. But Barry had been the only reason he did it in the first place, now that the kid was gone he didn't feel inclined to anymore.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the iceberg." Cisco muttered under his breath.

* * *

The crime scene today was in Central City's main park. The place had been funded a few years ago to try to brighten the area up, and in the day it was rather nice. But during the night it had a reputation to be home to drug addicts and prostitutes. Every once in a while a dead body would show up in the area, but most of the time it was because a junkie had overdosed.

"Hey Joe." Barry greeted ducking under the police tape to enter the crime scene. "Sorry it took so long I had to pick up my kit from home." He told him motioning to the box in his hand. He decided to leave out the part how he ate three bags of chips in hyperspeed as well.

"Don't worry about it Barry, it was supposed to be your day off you're allowed to be a little late...This time." He reassured him. About fifteen feet away a young blonde perked up at the sight of the CSI, and quickly made her way towards them.

"Barry you're here." Patty greeted with a smile. "You need to check this body out, I've never seen anything like it before." She told him.

"Patty you show Barry the body and help him out, I'm going to talk to Singh for moment." Joe told the two, a sly look on his face. He thought he was playing matchmaker which Patty didn't seem to mind.

"Okay, follow me it's over here." She motioned for him to walk with her off the path and behind a set of bushes. Sure enough there was the body of what looked to be a young male lying in the grass, skin so pale it seemed translucent. "What do you notice?"

Barry started to walk around the area, taking in the crime scene with expert eyes. He noted two sets of footprints, one of which looked like it belonged to the victim, the other was far to small to be a grown male. His guess it was a woman, from the length of the print, she probably wore a size eight. Then his attention was brought to the body. He crouched over the man and started to examine him visually. There were puncture marks in his arm, from what looked like needles. Which wasn't uncommon when it came to these kind of cases. He circled the body stopping near the neck, there were two more puncture marks over the man's jugular, bigger than the others, and there was no blood around the wound.

"Is that a bite mark?" Barry questioned eyebrows raised.

"Yup and the body is completely drained of blood." Patty told him.

"So this is either some new form of torture, a new meta human, or we should be calling up Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Barry commented, which earned a laugh from the blonde.

"My money is on a meta." She told him with a proud grin.

Barry started to collect some samples from the scene, testing the area around the neck for a small amount of leftover DNA. He did detailed work, moving to collect samples of the dirt from both sets of footprints. Once he finished bagging the last of the evidence he could test he informed the a few officers that were standing by that it was okay to start cleaning up the area.

"Hey Barry can I talk to you." Patty questioned, catching up with him as he made his way back to the main path.

"Yeah, what's up?" Barry questioned turning to look at her.

"I was wondering, do you have any plans tomorrow? I was hoping maybe we could get lunch." She questioned a hopeful expression on her face.

"I actually have plans tomorrow." Barry told her with a sheepish smile. It wasn't a lie he was supposed to be at Star Labs for another training session with Snart. "A friend of mine needs some help and I promised him I'd be there." Maybe 'friend' wasn't the word to be used.

"Oh, okay that's fine." She kept the smile on her face, but Barry could see the disappointment in her eyes. "Another time maybe?"

"Yeah another time." Barry gave a smile, but the words felt wrong coming from his mouth.

"Anyway I should be getting back to Joe." She replied, glancing over he shoulder towards the man. "And you should be getting to the lab to test those."

Barry nodded and was out there as quick as he could be without going into Flash mode, he jogged out of the area until he was somewhere out of sight and started to speed off towards the station letting out a groan in hyperspeed knowing no one could hear him.


	8. Chapter 8

"Be careful man, we don't know what this meta can do." Cisco's voice rang into Barry's ear while he was staking out the area.

A few minutes earlier there had been an alert of a spike in dark matter coming from the Performing Arts Theatre that was downtown Central City. Barry had to duck out of another training session with Snart to check it out, leaving him behind with the two scientist. He knew the other two weren't the most comfortable around him alone but they had an agreement that no one would get hurt.

"Put that down Cold!" Cisco shouted. Barry chuckled wondering what exactly was going on back at Star Labs. "If you break that you're paying for the parts." He warned. Barry could vaguely make out Snart's voice in the background, but he didn't catch what he said.

The Speedster did a circle around the building checking the perimeter. There were no shows or rehearsals going on today, so whoever was inside wasn't supposed to be there. He came to a stop at a door around back, he tried the doorknob but it was locked. Placing his hand on it he vibrated it fast enough to break the structures in the lock. He could have tried phasing through it but he wasn't yet confident enough that he wouldn't get stuck halfway through.

"I'm heading in." He whispered, pushing the door open slowly.

The light from outside filtered into the dark space once the door was open, but besides that everything was covered in shadows. Carefully Barry stepped inside, he didn't know what he was looking for or what might come out of the shadows. All the dressing rooms and hallways backstage were empty, the entire place seemed completely abandoned of life. That was until he heard it, a soft crying coming from somewhere out front. It sounded like a young child, but he knew very well it could a trap. He sped into the area, using the extra time he gained by running to look for anything suspicious. There sitting in the middle of the stage, huddling under the ghost light was a little girl. Once he made sure the place was clear he stopped beside her crouching down so he was closer to her level.

"Hey there." He spoke softly trying not to scare her. "Are you okay?" He questioned her, and she looked up at him from under a mess of blonde ringlets. Her eyes widened at the sight of him and she skidded back a few inches. "It's okay I'm not going to hurt you I'm a good guy, have you ever heard of The Flash?" He questioned tentatively and she nodded. "That's me, do you need help finding your parents?" He offered her a gloved hand to help her stand up and she took it, holding on tightly. "Do you know where you live? I'm going to take you home." Instead of speaking she just nodded and started pulling him forward, towards the back exit. He followed, letting her hold onto his hand as they walked.

"Watch out Barry, the ratings are spiking." Cisco told him through the comm.

Once out back in the daylight the young girl turned to look at him a smile on her face. There was no sign of tears on her face despite the sobbing he had heard her doing earlier. The girl couldn't have been older than nine or ten, but there was something off about her the way she looked at him was menacing.

"Thank you." She spoke softly in a sing-song voice letting go of Barry's hand.

For a brief moment the world went black and he stumbled a couple of steps before his vision came back. While he was disoriented the girl had run off using this as the perfect time to escape. He felt like someone had just punched him in the gut. All the girl had done was speak and something had changed.

"Barry are you okay? You heart rate just went through the roof." Caitlin urged him for a reply.

"Yeah." He mumbled. Only it didn't come out as he tried to say it, instead he sang the word. This caused him to freeze a confused expression coming over his face. "Did that just happen?" The question he asked was the answer as his next words came out in a smooth melody.

"Dude why are you singing?" Cisco questioned.

"I don't know." Barry continued trying to say the words normal but no matter how hard he tried it didn't work. "She did something to me."

"Okay you need to come back to the lab so we can figure this out." Caitlin told him, her tone was hesitant, and Barry swore he could hear Snart laughing in the background.

With a sigh Barry sped back to the lab stopping the cortex to pull his cowl off a frown plastered across his lips. He didn't say anything eyeing the people in the room, his gaze landed on Snart who was lounging in a chair a smirk on his face. He raised his eyebrows as if expecting him to speak.

"What is wrong with me?" Barry questioned, he tried to groan but the words came out sounding soft and clear.

"Well definitely not your voice man, Caitlin told me you could sing but whoa." Cisco commented, an impressed look coming to his face. "Uh have you tried to stop it?"

Barry didn't say anything but gave him a 'are you kidding me?' look.

"Okay I'm going to run some tests." Caitlin motioned for him to follow her into the medical lab. "You're going to have to tell me what happened." She told him, as Barry took a seat on the hospital bed. He sat there for a moment frowning, knowing the second he opened his mouth to talk he'd start singing again.

"I found a young girl in the theatre, she was there all alone. I tried to help her, but when she spoke her voice started this. Then she ran off." He sang grimacing when he finished. Caitlin nodded sticking a needle into Barry's arm starting to draw blood. Once she finished she shooed Barry out so she could run the tests, sending him back over to Cisco and Snart.

"What did she look like?" Cisco questioned.

"She was young, nine or ten. Blonde hair curly hair, I didn't see to much it was dark and when we got outside she did this to me before I could really see her." He told him, as casually as he could while being forced to sing.

"I'll go through the system and see if there are any reports of missing kids lately." Cisco replied.

"You won't find anything." Snart stated from his seat eyeing the two. "It wasn't a kid."

"Barry described a kid." Cisco argued.

"And I'm saying it's not a kid." Snart drawled. "I've seen the girl before, she used to act at the theatre."

"How do you know this?" Barry cursed as the words once came out as yet another melody. Snart just looked at him for a moment before sighing.

"I enjoy some good theatre, so shoot me for it." He replied sarcastically. "But it's not a kid, it's an adult. She has some sort of hormone issue that stopped her growing at a young age. They used to cast her in everything because she could act as a kid but had the experience and maturity of an adult." He informed them. "From what I saw she mostly did musicals."

It all clicked into place with his last statement, and Barry turned to Cisco motioning towards the computer wanting him to start researching to see if they could find this girl.

"Do you know her name?" Cisco questioned. "And man I can't believe you like plays that's just...weird."

"Sarah something. It's not weird I have class, I'd rather watch a play then see some stupid movie." He replied with a sneer.

"Still weird." Cisco muttered under his breath as he started to search through the data base. "I think I found her. Sarah Teux, known for her childlike figure, twenty-nine years old. Get this, the night of the Particle Accelerator exploded there was a show going on and apparently the blast caused a stage light to fall on her. Does this look like who you saw Barry?"

"Yes." Barry sang, as Cisco pulled a headshot up onto the computer. The Speedster just let out a groan and buried his face in his hands, listening to Snart laughing at his embarrassment behind him.

"You know you should fight crime like this Scarlet. Nothing says scary more than a man who sings like a boy." Len quipped only adding to theSpeedsters embarrassment. But truthfully Len was impressed, he didn't expect that Barry could sing, especially not as good as it turned out he could.

"Shut up Snart." He replied with a low vibrato, but it only made things worse.

* * *

It took seven hours before Barry could speak normally again, seven hours of Len bugging the kid about it. He found it fun to get him flustered, and he made it so easy to do. The kid pretty much walked straight into all of Len's jokes, and the way he blushed each time sent a wave of pride through Len. The Flash may have been some cocky hero, but Barry Allen was a complete awkward gangly mess half the time. Yet for some reason Len couldn't get the sound of Barry's voice out of his head. That had been two days ago, and he still found his mind drifting back to that sound.

"Hey Len you in there?" Shawna commented with a snicker as they pulled up outside of a Big Belly Burger. "You've been quiet, even more so than usual."

"It's called thinking, you should try it sometime." Len replied dryly. He wasn't to pleased that he was being escorted to get food. But since Fielder was still looking for him, Lisa would barely let him leave the house without another Rogue.

"Just for that I'm making you buy my meal." She told him, stepping out of the passenger side of the black Lexus. He would have complained but he figured he would have ended up being the one paying anyway.

He made his way into the restaurant, tucking his hands into the pocket on his leather jacket as he walked. Normally Len was a bit pickier about his food, he was one of those people who preferred to eat at five-star restaurants. But he had a soft spot for Big Belly Burger, when he was young he would save up his money from working to take Lisa out to one every Friday, it gave her something to to look forward glanced at the menu trying to decide what he wanted, but his attention was drawn away when he heard a familiar voice a head of his ordering.

"Yeah can I get a number six combo? Supersized please. Thank you." Barry spoke kindly to the woman taking his order, oblivious to the fact Len was behind him.

A smirk crawled to Len's lips, the kid really needed to be more aware of his surroundings. Len considered trying to scare him, but apart of him got the feeling sneaking up on the Speedster wasn't the brightest of ideas.

"You know Barry I didn't take you as the type to like things supersized." Len drawled, watching as the man in front of him tensed up. Slowly Barry turned to face them a surprised look coming across his face.

"Snart!" He choked out. "What are you doing here?" Barry questioned, taking in the woman beside him and swallowing hard. He hoped Shawna wouldn't recognize him out of suit, but she seemed blissfully unaware.

"I'm getting food." He replied as though it was obvious, which it was.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friend Len?" Shawna questioned with a friendly smile. It was weird to see her being so laid back.

"Shawna meet Barry, Barry meet Shawna." Len continued in an amused tone, watching as Barry stammered over his words.

"Oh, uh, hi nice to meet you." He replied giving her a sheepish smile, which she took as him just being shy.

"I can help the next person." The woman behind the counter called out and Len and Shawna went to make their order.

Len watched as Barry lingered waiting for his food to be finished and brought up front. Every once in awhile he'd glance over at them and catch Lens gaze before quickly averting his eyes. He could tell the kid was probably having a melt down in his head. Barry nearly ran to the counter when his food was done, trying to make a quick escape. But Shawna got to him before he could leave.

"Hey you should sit with us, I'd love to get to hear how you and Len know each other." She offered with a smile.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Barry tried to object, but the woman was persistent.

"Nonsense, come on just five minutes?" She questioned.

"I-Uh.." Barry looked at Snart with an expression that just said 'Help me'. But Len just smirked at the kid and shrugged.

"She's not going to take no for an answer." He told him, heading towards a table near the back of the restaurant.

He didn't know why he was going along with Shawna's antics, apart of him wanted to say it because he loved seeing Barry squirm. But another part actually enjoyed the Speedster's company, but that was something he would never admit to. His blue eyes watched Barry carefully as Shawna pretty much steered him over the to table, the younger man taking a seat across from Len and beside Shawna. Barry slowly took a sip of his soda, eying Len across the table not sure what exactly to do at this point.

"So how do you guys know each other?" Shawna questioned breaking the silence.

"Oh we uh.." Barry started trying to come up with something on the spot but he was blanking. Thankfully Len cut in with such a smooth reply he could have fooled even Barry.

"Through mutual friends." Len replied cooly bringing a fry to his lips. "We met at a party, isn't that right?"

"Right! Yeah that's how we met, it was just a small party turns out we knew a few of the same people." Barry continued. "We ended up talking for a while, we've run into each other a few times around town since then."

"Oh that sounds nice, so Barry do you have any hobbies?" Shawna questioned taking a bite of her burger, trying to make small talk.

"No not really."

"Oh don't be modest Barry, you're a singer." Len replied smirking across the table, his blue eyes meeting Barry's green ones as a flush came toSpeedsters cheeks

"You sing?" Shawna piped up. "What kind of singing?"

"Oh uh, nothing to exciting." Barry tried to wean his way off the subject by taking a gulp of his drink.

"Have you done any musicals or anything?" She continued, obviously wanting to stick to this topic. Barry sent a glare across the table to Len who was just looking a little too proud of himself.

"Yeah, I did a few back in highschool." He admitted, biting his lip out of habit.

That was news to Len, he didn't know too much about Barry before the lightning strike. The idea of Barry singing and dancing on stage was hard to wrap his mind around. His gaze flickered down to the kids lips as he took a bite and he cursed in his head. He found himself admiring Barry's lips while he was focused on talking to Shawna, after a lingering glance he brought his gaze back to his food.

"Oh what ones?" She pushed grinning at him.

"I did Hairspray, The Last Five Years, and West Side Story." He continued shifting his gaze to Len. He got the strangest feeling that the Older man would be holding this conversation against him later.

"That sounds good, have you thought about doing any more?" She continued.

"No, I'm to busy these days." Barry felt his phone vibrate, and let out a sigh of relief when he read the text from Iris. "Sorry, I have to go. It was nice meeting you Shawna."

Len watched as Barry stood up and turned to leave, giving Len a small nod as a 'goodbye', before he was out of there with his food bag tucked under his arm.

"I like him, he's cute." Shawna commented between bites of her burger.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Len replied lazily.

"I was just admiring him from a distance. Plus I wasn't thinking about me." She gave him an evil grin. "You on the other hand-"

"No." Len muttered with a sigh.

"Oh come on Len you two were pretty much eyefucking each other across the table. Plus dating someone would be good for you. You're so grumpy all the time maybe if you got laid you'd be more relaxed."

"Shawna, shut up."

* * *

So I was going over my story chapters and apparently FF has been deleting the dashes I put in to separate the sections of a chapter. I just went through all them to add the horizontal line to help clear things up! Sorry for the inconvenience. ~R


	9. Chapter 9

Lisa Snart was not a woman to be messed with, and she made that very clear when she stormed into Star Labs one late evening. There was a scowl across her lips, her gaze was icy and determined. She didn't stop until she was standing in front of her brother, who was just finishing up another round of training. Pulling her hand back she smacked him across the face hard.

"How dare you." She seethed. "You had no right!"

Len didn't make a sound when she hit him, but there was bright red mark glowing on his cheek. Everyone in the room had gone silent, and Barry stood there taking a step forward wondering if he should intervene.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific Lisa." Len replied an irritated look coming to his face. He didn't react with anger or try to strike back, he did his best to avoid conflict with his sister.

"Don't play stupid." She snapped. "You're the only person who knew about it!"

"Lisa what are you talking about?"

"The memory stick is gone Len." She told him as though he should know this. "Everything else is there but the memory stick, it was there last nightand now it's just gone."

"I didn't touch it." He told her his face paling.

"Don't mess with me Leonard."

"I wasn't home last night Lisa, I didn't touch it." He told her firmly. "Whatever you do don't got back to that safe house. If you need anything there you call me or Mick to go with you."

"Wait you mean-"

'Someone was in your room, and I think I have and idea of who." He turned walking towards the chair that his parka was draped over. Anger was radiating off of him, and ice began to crackle in the air the room temperature dropping around them.

"What's going on?" Barry questioned a confused expression on his face. But Len just slid into his jacket and went to leave. Barry blocked the doorway before he could make it out of the cortex. "Snart tell me what's going on."

"Someone is messing with my sister, so I'm going to find them." He replied in a dark voice. "Get out of my way Scarlet."

"Not until I get the full story, your powers are still too unstable to go out there alone." Barry's breath lingered in the air in front of him like a puff of smoke which only seemed to further prove his point.

"The memory stick has files on it." Lisa started. her tone was hesitant but she needed to calm Len down. "My files. My birth certificate, social security number, medical records. They're the last copies of my existence, Len wanted me to get rid of it like he did but I kept a personal copy." She told them.

"Because my sister is a sentimental idiot." Len growled. "Now let me through."

"No." Barry stated firmly. "Who do you think took it?"

"Geoffrey Fielder." Len stared Barry directly in the eyes, with a gaze that would have made anyone else move out of the way. But Barry just met the gaze staring back.

"I'll find it, you two stay here." Barry told them. "They'll be expecting you guys not me."

"No, this isn't your problem." Len tried to shove past but Barry reached an arm out to stop him. "I'm going to get him, there is nothing in your power you can do to stop me Barry."

"I'm not going to stop you." Barry let out a sigh. "I'm going to help you."

"No."

"You don't have a choice Snart, you're not ready to go out there alone. Do you even know where you're going to go?" Barry questioned, earning only silence from Len. "That's what I thought. Cisco hack into the camera's near their safe house, find the car and track it down to it's current location."

Cisco walked to the computer desk quickly, getting the location from Lisa and skimming through the camera's until he managed to get a glimpse of a car pulling up out front of the apartment building early in the morning. None of them recognized any of the three men that stepped out, and they didn't stay long enough to live there either. Not thirty minutes they left driving off down the block. Cisco followed the vehicle through the traffic cameras until it finally came to a stop out front of 'The Bishops Hotel'.

"The car hasn't left since it first got there so who ever broke into your safe house is somewhere in the hotel." Cisco told them. "If you go fast you should be able to catch them."

Len felt electricity crackle and soon Barry was standing in the doorway in his red suit, it looked like he wouldn't be able to talk the kid out of this. With a sigh he shook his head.

"Fine you can come, but we're going my way." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys to his motorcycle. "I'm not letting you speed in there without me, this is my fight I call the shots."

"You want me to ride on your motorcycle?" Barry questioned eyes wide.

"Yeah that's a bad idea." Cisco chimed in. "The Flash riding on the back of a motor cycle isn't exactly inconspicuous."

Len glanced at Barry who gave a sheepish look and a nod. The kid was dressed in a full body red suit which would definitely draw attention in traffic. After a pause Len unzipped his parka and handed it over to the Speedster who gave a confused look.

"Put it on, keep the hood up no one will notice." He explained simply, still holding the jacket out for him. After a long moment Barry took it tucking it under his arm. "Alright let's go."

"Wait not yet!" Cisco started to dig through the desk drawers before he jogged over to Snart handing him a small object that resembled an ear bud. "It's for the comm, so you can split up from Barry and still hear him, and we can feed you information through it." The engineer explained. Len quickly slid the device into his ear, and let Cisco turn it on. Sure enough he could hear an echo of what was going on in the room. "Alright you're online."

"Scarlet, let's go." He stated walking by Barry and down the hall, he had become familiar with the layout of the Lab and now was able to navigate around easily.

As he walked he heard the footfalls of Barry just a step behind him as the pair made it out to the parking lot. The sun had set a few hours ago but it was only a few minutes passed nine o'clock. The new winter breeze brushed across his skin and he knew it should feel cold, but to him it seemed normal. Len came to a stop beside his motorcycle eying Barry.

"Going to put the parka on kid?" He questioned raising his eyebrows.

He watched as the Speedster let out a sigh and slid his arms into the dark blue jacket zipping it all the way up. Under any other circumstance Len would have teased him about it, but for now he only had moment to take in the sight before him. The parka was big on Barry's lean frame, but he looked good in it. As long as he kept his head in the hood he'd just look like he had a pair of red pants and boots on. Len popped the seat to the bike open to where a hidden compartment was and dug out two helmets handing one to Barry.

"Safety first." He muttered sarcastically, before putting his own helmet on. He made sure the holster on his leg was tight enough with the cold gun in it before slipping onto the seat. Truthfully he didn't need the gun to much any more, but it was a comfort to have it on him. "Helmet on, hood up, and get on." He ordered.

"Has anyone ever told you you're incredibly bossy?" Barry grumbled, but did as he was told slipping on behind Len. He did his best to keep his balance without touching Len. Not because he didn't want to, in fact because he wanted to and that realization scared him.

"All the time." He replied. "Hold on." He tossed the words over his shoulder before revving the bikes engine and speeding off. He could feel Barry's body jolt behind him as his balance was thrown off and then a pair of warm hands where on Lens waist so the Speedster could keep himself on the bike.

As they drove through the city streets Len was a little too aware of how warm Barry's hands were, he may have even taken a few turns a bit faster than needed so the kid had to wrap his arms tighter around him. He heard himgrumbling behind him a few times about how this was 'his first time on a motorcycle' , or how this would be 'much faster if he agreed to running'. But for the most part Barry was silent, almost as though he was enjoying the drive. Despite that though there was still the lingering thought of what they were about to do in both of their minds. After ten minutes, Len pulled to a stop outside the hotel and took his helmet off.

"Head around back, I'll figure out what room they're in." Len told him slipping off the bike.

"How do you plan on doing that?" Barry questioned, not sure if he even wanted to know.

"I have my way Scarlet." Len smirked.

"Fine." Barry sighed, and in a flash he was gone the parka and helmet now on the seat of Lens bike.

Len placed both helmets back in the compartment under the seat before slipping into his parka. There was a slight lingering smell of Barry from the few minutes he had been wearing it, it was like a mixture of after shave and vanilla. Quickly he made his way into the lobby, the jacket unzipped in a casual manner so not to draw too much attention to himself. He walked up to the main desk, and the woman behind it gave him a smile.

"How can I help you tonight?" She was young, maybe in her late twenties. Her blonde hair was tossed back in a sleek ponytail, and her blouse could have afforded to have a few more buttons done up.

"I'm looking for a few of my friends, they checked in earlier." Len replied in a nonchalant tone. "Three guys all of them in dark clothes, they should have dropped in about nine this morning."

"I'm sorry Sir I can't give out that kind of information." The blond replied with an overly sympathetic look.

"I think me and you can overlook that rule for a minute.." Len replied pulling out his wallet and laying down an obscenely large amount of cash on the counter. "That's five hundred for one little bit of information." He told her.

"Oh...let me just check the log book." She replied, reaching forward to slip the wad of cash into her back pocket. She ducked under the counter pulling out a binder opening it and starting to look through the pages. "There was a check in under the same 'Jones' this morning for three men around nine am. They're on the sixteenth floor in room seventy-eight."

"Thanks." Len drawled, moving to walk towards the elevators.

"Did you just bribe the desk lady?" Barry questioned through the comm.

"I could have knocked her out and took the book, but I figured I'd go the less violent route." Len replied, hitting the button for the sixteenth floor. "Did you hear the room number?"

"Yup, meet you there."

The trip up seemed agonizingly slow despite the fact Len held the button down to prevent it from making any unwanted stops to pick up civilians. When the doors finally opened the Speedster was standing there with a bored look on his face.

"I scanned the halls, there's only one other resident on the floor and they're not in right now." Barry told him, walking in the direction of room seventy-eight. "But I can hear voices coming from inside of seventy-eight so they're currently there."

Len nodded shushing the Speedster as they got close enough to the room. Very carefully Len turned the doorknob so slow they wouldn't be able to notice unless someone was directly looking at it. Just as he assumed there was a click that signaled the door was locked.

"I can-" Barry started in a hushed voice.

"I've got this. We'll have three minutes once the commotion starts before the police show up" Len told him anticipating the people on the floor below would end up calling the cops.

Keeping his hand on the doorknob ice started to cover the metal surface until the entire thing was covered in a thick layer of it. Len slammed his fist down hard and with a bang the door knob shattered falling to the floor in pieces. This grabbed the attention of the men inside and he pushed the door open with a smirk.

"I don't mean to intrude, but you have something of mine." Len stated a smirk coming to his lips. "I want it back."

He heard the sound of guns loading, and there was a series of loud pops as shots were fired towards him. In that moment he was thankful Barry had been so stubborn to come along as he felt the sizzle of electricity as the Speedster ran passed him stopping a few feet ahead dropping a handful of bullets on to the floor.

"You're working with the fucking Flash?" One of the men spat. "I didn't believe it when those last guys said it, Snart going straight I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it."

"Oh trust me, I'm far from straight." He replied knowing the innuendo was there and not bothering to correct it. He walked forward ice crackling under his feet with every step, creeping up the walls. Unlike before this time he was controlling it. "Give me the memory stick."

"Fat chance." The same thug growled and raised his gun to shoot again, but before he could even think about firing it the gun was gone and Barry was standing across the room with all three of their weapons in hand; unloading each of them.

"I'd suggest now, you don't want to see me when I'm cold." He replied.

The man who had done all the speaking motioned for the two other thugs to attack. Which only caused Len to smirk. With a slight movement of his hands the ice from the floor quickly climbed up the legs of the two thugs, freezing them into place. They let out a few gasps and pained noises, but Len wasn't in the mood to listen to it. He swung a hard punch at the leader, slamming his fist into the side of his jaw.

"Give me back the memory stick, or I will take it the hard way." He growled, they had two minutes left.

"I can't. The boss wants dirt on that pretty sister of yours." The man tried to throw a punch at him, but Len ducked under it, slamming his knee into the mans gut.

This knocked him off balanced enough for Len to shove him hard into the glass balcony door behind him. From the frost that had gathered on it the glass cracked at the blow, allow Len to shove the man across the small blalcony and against the railing. He didn't toss him over, but the threat was lingering in the air.

"Tell me where it is." Len growled

"Snart." Barry warned coming up behind him.

"I-I can't." The thug replied but his voice was starting to get a little panicked.

Len slammed his fist into the guy's nose, before his fingers moved to the black jacket the man was wearing hoisting him up about a foot in the air. Lens muscles rippled under the jacket,as he started to lean the man over the ledge.

"Tell me." He pushed again.

"I...I no." He replied, the once big talking thug now struggling for words. Len just lifted him higher so he was nearly hanging sixteen stories above the ground.

"Then you're worthless to me." Len replied, loosening his grip letting the man fall a bit further.

"Wait!" He cried out. Len's grip tightened holding him in place. "It's in the bathroom medicine cabinet inside a pill bottle." The man gasped out.

"Scarlet find it." Len spoke still not pulling the man back up. With in a second Barry had managed to find it.

"I have it." Barry confirmed.

"Good." Len let out a breath. "I should kill you for breaking into my sister's room." He let the man fall a couple more inches. One minute, he could hear the police sirens in the distance below.

"Don't" He felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and knew Barry was trying to get him to stop.

"You're lucky I have a code." He told the man, yanking up and tossing him onto the floor into the hotel room. He walked over and gave a hard kick to the mans head to knock him out. His gaze when to the two frozen thugs who had panicked looks on their faces. "The cops are in the elevator they'll be here to run you to jail. Let's hope they brought blow dryers." Snart stated with a smirk, and he heard Barry groan behind him. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Len made his way into the hall, glancing down at his watch, fifteen seconds until that elevator would open the police would be coming out. Barry seemed to understand and before he could even bring up the idea of the kid running them out of there Len was suddenly standing beside his motorcycle. Slightly disoriented he gave a sigh.

"Little warning next time." He replied already unzipping his parka and handing it over to Barry.

He wasn't sure if the kid would take it, he could easily run back to Star Labs now they didn't need to be discreet any more. But Barry took the parka and started to slide his arms into the sleeves zipping it up. A smirk came to Lens lips and he quickly fetched out the helmets before settling on to the bike. He felt Barry's warm body get on behind him, hands settling on his waist. Without a word he started the bike up and got out of there, driving through the city streets. This time around Barry seemed a bit more comfortable, he was pressing a bit closer and Len could feel his heat seeping through to his back.

"Hey you guys get it?" Cisco's voice questioned through the comm.

"Yeah we have it." Barry replied, letting out a small yelp as Len took a corner a little fast causing him to grip a bit tighter. "We'll be back in a few minutes." He continued.

Not to long after Len was parked in the Star Labs parking lot, and Barry was stripping out of his parka and the pair were ascending the halls until they reached the Cortex. The second they walked in Lisa was on her feet.

"Where is it?" She questioned. Barry reached into one of the hidden pockets on his suit and pulled out the USB stick handing it over to the younger Snart. She looked at it for a moment hesitating before handing it over to her brother. "Destroy it."

"Are you sure." Len questioned. He knew what these files meant to her.

"Yes, get rid of it." She confirmed.

"Alright." He tucked the object into his back pocket, he'd get rid of this permanently. His gaze shifted to Barry as the younger man pulled it cowl off, letting his dishevelled chestnut hair out. "I think that's enough heroism for one lifetime." He replied with a sarcastic tone turning to exit. "I'll see you around Scarlet."

"You will, because you're next lesson is in two days. Unless you get cold feet." Barry replied with his signature dorky grin.

Len glanced at him over his shoulder and smirked, letting out a chuckle at the pun. He didn't need to say anything else, making his way out of the building with his sister at his side.


	10. Chapter 10

Barry had been sneaking around work for days, he was being more careful than normal about where he was, or what time he did things. He would only use the washroom when he knew there was a call, and make sure the door to his lab was locked. He felt like he was tip-toeing around, all to avoid being asked out by Patty again. He was to nice to say no if he didn't have something planned on that day, so he was trying to avoid the question all together. He knew avoiding it would eventually come back to bite him in the ass but right now he'd rather not have to deal with it.

Locked away in his lab Barry was slaving over the evidence from the crime scene down in the park. He had gone over it countless times, but something wasn't adding up, there was something missing to this all. Most of the dirt from the footprint he tested belonged in the park, but there had also been dirt that contained a rare type of radiation in it. When he traced back the source of the radiation the only chemical match he got was to a nuclear power plant in Korea. For someone to travel that far didn't make any sense to him. He tried to get a match on the DNA he'd gathered from the saliva but he couldn't get anything on it. His work would go much faster if they would give him the reports from the morgue, but there had been some kind of containment breach that was slowing things down. The fact he stuck frustrated him, Barry was one of the best CSI's this place had seen in years, despite his tardiness he was extremely good at his job. When he was twenty one they had offered him the job in his senior year at Central City University after he helped them solve a case, that made him the youngest CSI that the police department had ever had, he felt like he had so much pressure to prove that there was a reason he got this job. When he couldn't figure something out right away he felt like he was failing someone, even though no one was holding him to as nearly a high standard as himself. He let out a frustrated sigh about to run the DNA through the system once more when someone tried to open the door. The lock stopped them and instead they started knocking. Sluggishly Barry got to his feet opening the door, hoping that it wouldn't be Patty. He let out a breath at the sight of Iris before him, a sheepish smile coming to his lips.

"Hey Barr." She greeted pulling him into a short hug. "Why's the door locked you never lock it?" She questioned stepping out of the doorway and into the lab.

"Oh there was a draft." He replied awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Your lab is closed off and none of your windows are open." She reminded, obviously not believing him.

"Air Conditioning." He replied simply.

"It's December Barry."

"Is it? I should really have a talk with building management about that." He gave his signature dorky grin.

"Right." She shook her head but let out a chuckle. "Here I was thinking you might have been hiding away in here with a girl." A devilish grin climbed to her lips. "You know the one you have a crush on?"

"I what?" Barry sputtered raising his eyebrows, a look of confusion washing over his face. "Iris I don't have a crush on anyone I've told you that, plus this is my work I wouldn't risk anything here." He told her his cheeks burning red.

"Barry I know you, I know when you like someone. You get all flustered and start making excuses and you blush every time I bring it up." She motioned to his cheeks. "Who is it?"

"I'm not interested in anyone Iris, I'm to busy for that kind of stuff." He grumbled. But the memory of being in Snart's parka his body pressed up against the older man's flashed in his mind. Barry pushed that thought aside knowing no good could come from it.

"I'm your best friend Barr you can trust me." She insisted.

"So what exactly did you come here for? Beside to question me about my non existent love life?" Barry questioned, raising his eyebrows. There was a 'ding' from his computer and he turned his attention to the screen. The DNA results came back with no match again. "Oh come on." He muttered.

"I'm here because you've been working to much. Dad thinks you need to get out and have some fun." She grinned. "So me and you are going out tonight."

"Iris I don't really have time-"

"It's already been cleared with your superiors. Everyone thinks you need a break." Iris replied, grabbing Barry's jacket from off the back of his desk chair and handing it to him. "Come on live a little, there's more to life outside of your Lab and The Flash."

Barry looked over at the clock it was six thirty and he technically wasn't supposed to be off until seven. But saying no to Iris was something he's never been good at. With a reluctant sigh he took the jacket into his hands and slipped into the black sleeves. There was a knock at the open door announcing someone else was now about to enter the room. He glanced up and let out a sigh.

"Hey Patty." He greeted with a hesitance that could have been passed of as 'Shyness' , at least that was what Iris took it as.

"Hey Barry are you heading out?" She smiled at him. "I was hoping I could talk to you before you left." The look on her face was so hopeful he didn't want to let her down.

"Oh, well me and Iris were just about to-" Before he could finish his sentence he was cut off by Iris.

"Hi Patty, I'm Iris." She walked forward with her hand out to shake the other girl's hand. "Joe's daughter. You're his new partner right?" She questioned.

"Oh I know." She smiled for moment before realizing how that might have come off. "I didn't stalk you or anything it's just Joe has a picture of you on his desk." She clarified. "Yes I am, it's nice to officially meet you." Patty shook Iris's hand and the two exchanged friendly smiles.

"So when are you off Patty?" Iris questioned.

"I got off thirty minutes ago, I was just finishing up some reports and was hoping to catch Barry before I left." She admitted.

The look on Iris's face could only mean one thing, and Barry didn't like it. She was up to something, and he had a strange feeling he knew what.

"Oh Barry just got off too!" She exclaimed. "You two should go get some dinner, and you can talk to him about whatever you had in mind." She was trying to play match maker.

"Iris I thought you had stuff planned for tonight?" Barry questioned trying to weasel his way out of it. But she seemed to think Barry was just being poliet.

"Actually I think I left my stove on in my apartment so I should be going." She gave Barry a coy smile. "See you guys!" She called out.

Barry stood there for a moment a neutral look on his face, but inside he was panicking. For someone who knew him so well Iris really sucked when it came to trying to match him up with people. He knew she was just trying to be a good friend, but now Barry didn't have any excuse to say no. He gave a sheepish smile, and looked at Patty.

"So where do you want to eat?" He questioned politely.

"This new bar opened down the street I've heard the food there is pretty good." She replied, grinning brightly at him.

"Okay that sounds good, lead the way." He motioned her out of the lab and into the hall.

Patty seemed to have more of a skip in her step than normal and Barry felt a pang of guilt sweep through him. Throughout most of his life Barry had been undesirable, up in until he was fifteen he was five feet tall, had a mouth full of braces, an acne problem and a haircut he'd like to forget. Puberty hit him like a bag of bricks, but even after that he was gangly and skinny, barely anyone showed romantic interest to him. There was Becky Cooper but they only lasted a month or two. Until his junior year in University he didn't have anymore romantic encounters, and that was only a half a three month period with a guy named Jonathan. Once he graduated he didn't have time for dating, the one woman who he had ever really loved only viewed him as a friend which stung but Barry knew it for the best. It wasn't until after the lighting strike that suddenly girls seemed interested to him, he figured it was because of his appearance. While still gangly Barry had filled out his once scrawny body had become lean with muscle, and he seemed to be putting on more muscle every day. But the thing that made this worse was he knew Patty wasn't into him because he had become easier on the eyes, she genuinely liked him and he was going to turn her down.

Barry walked with Patty to her desk so she could grab her jacket before heading out, but not before noticing the smirk on Joe's lips. Something about the West's and meddling with his love life was not going over well with him. They made the trip down the elevator and out of the CCPDbuilding onto the street. It was already dark out, the new winter moon shining in the sky above; but there were no stars to be seen all of them blocked out by pollution. Barry focused his eyes on the blonde at his side and tried to feel something romantic for her. He tried thinking about what it would be like to kiss her or hold her hand, but he couldn't feel anything outside of platonic admiration. He let out a sigh and shook his head, this was going to be a painful night to get through.

"I think it's that one." She pointed at a building about halfway down the block.

Barry nodded and walked forward stopping once they got to the door to open it for her, before cursing in his head. Should he have made her do that? Maybe it was things like that which gave the wrong impression. Barry walked in behind her, and was surprised at the place. It was nicer than any bar he'd gone to before, then again he didn't go out to often. There was a dim blue lighting shining through crystal chandeliers that resemble icicles, everything was sleek and modern. But it still managed to have a section of the bar near the back put aside for some pure black pool tables. Barry gulped afraid to look at the menu, just the vibe this place was giving off made him feel like it wasn't in his budget. Barry wasn't broke in fact quite the opposite, after the death of Harrison Wells who turned out to be Eobard Thawne Barry was the one who inherited nearly everything from the lab to his money. He still didn't understand why he was the one to get it all, Eobard could have easily spited him even in death and forced Cisco, Caitlin and him to find a new base of operations but instead he made Barry the sole owner of it all. Now Barry had twenty million sitting in a bank account collecting interest and gathering dust. The money felt dirty to him, and he'd never once been tempted to use it for his own pleasure. He only used it to keep Star Labs running and to pay Caitlin and Cisco their normal wages. For everything else he used the money he earned himself, even if that meant putting in the extra hours.

"Wow this place is...wow." Barry stated glancing up at a crystal chandelier as they walked under it. "It's nice." He continued as they found a booth to sit in.

"Is it too much?" She questioned as a woman made her way over to hand them menus.

Barry let his eyes skim over it before giving a shrug. The prices were above average, but it wouldn't put too much of a damper on things.

"It's actually not to crazy, a little pricer than normal but it's not too bad." He told her, before turning to the waitress. "Could I get a club soda and the sirloin burger with fries?" Barry questioned handing the menu back to the waitress.

"Long island ice tea and the chicken caesar wrap please." Patty replied after him, handing the menu back to the waitress who left after jotting it down.

They sat there for a few minutes in a tense silence, Patty just smiled at him and Barry did his best to be polite back. He had never been good when it came to dates especially when it came to ones he didn't want to be on.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Barry questioned after a moment.

"What?" A puzzled look crossed her face.

"Back at the station you said you wanted to talk to me." He reminded. He glanced up for a moment to thank the waitress as she set their drinks down in front of them.

"Oh, right." She sat up a bit straighter. "It's not really important now, I was actually going to ask if you wanted to grab some dinner." She told him with a smile. "But we're doing that already."

Barry let out a stiff chuckle and brought the drink to his lips to give him an excuse not to talk for a moment.

"Do you not drink?" Patty blurted out after a moment. "Alcohol I mean alcohol not drink in general, if you didn't drink in general you'd be dead by now." She gave a sigh aware of how dorky she must have sounded.

"I've never been a big drinker, every once in awhile I might have a beer when Joe wants his 'father son bonding time' but I'm not a big fan of it." He told her simply.

Of course the story was a bit more complicated than he was letting on. There was no real point in drinking for him. Most people didn't drink because they liked the taste, they drank because they wanted to get drunk. Now that he couldn't do that he didn't see the point in drinking.

"That's cool, I've never been a crazy big drinker either. I just like something after the odd day of work." She told him with a smile. "So how has your CSI work been coming along?" She questioned trying to make small talk to fill the silences.

"Honestly not to good right now, I can't finish one of my tests until I get the morgue results in and I'm sure you've heard about what happened."

"Yeah there was some kind of breech, They moved the body and had to wash the whole place down." She gave a sympathetic smile. "Well I'm sure once the results come back you'll figure it out. You're amazing if anyone can do it, it's you."

The guilt in Barry's stomach was becoming heavier. Patty was such a great person, she was smart, caring, dorky, and even pretty badass. He wished he could like her, but no matter how hard he tried he didn't feel any chemistry.

"I'm not that great but thanks." Barry replied sheepishly.

It only took another three minutes before their food was being set down in front of them. Barry had to admit he was impressed with how fast it got there, the speed alone might have been worth the extra five dollars the burger cost. He didn't wait to start digging in, if he was going to behere he might as well at least enjoy the food.

"This is good." Patty stated after a few bites of her dinner.

"Mhmm." Barry hummed his mouth full.

They ate in silence for a while and Barry tried to keep his pace slow, knowing as long as he had something to eat he would have an excuse to not talk But of course it didn't last long enough, he dipped his last fry in ketchup bringing it to his lips before washing it down with some of his soda. The waitress brought the bill over to the table which signaled their meal was glanced across the table and smiled at him, that same bright smile she always gave him. He knew one day someone would fall in love with that smile, but it just wasn't going to be him.

"Do you maybe want to catch a movie once we've paid?" She questioned.

Barry knew he needed to tell her the truth about his feelings now, but apart of him was tempted to say yes just to keep her looking so happy. He knew the longer things were drawn out the harder it would get.

"I...don't think that's a good idea." He replied hesitantly, watching as the look on her face dropped.

"Oh." She replied. "Do you mind me asking why? I mean you don't have to tell me you have all rights not to. I'm just curious."

"Look Patty." Barry sighed. "I think you're great, you're beautiful, intelligent, and caring-" Before he could continue she cut him off.

"This is the part where you say it's not going to work out isn't it?" She questioned, a sad look in her eyes. After a moment Barry nodded.

"I'm sorry, I really wish I had feelings for you Patty you're amazing. But I just don't feel that way towards you." He told her honestly. "Someone will, someone much better than me will deserve you. I'm just not that person."

"I get it." She told him with a sad smile. "I should go." She stood up and reached into her bag to pull out her wallet.

"Don't worry about paying I've got it." He told her, and she nodded making a hasty exit. Barry pulled out his wallet and tossed a few twentiesonto the table before standing up to head home.

"That was just sad Scarlet." A voice spoke from behind him. Barry didn't need to turn to look to know who it was. He recognized his low voice, and only one person called him by that nickname.

"Snart?" He sighed turning around. "How much of that did you see?" He questioned.

"From about the moment you walked in." Len replied with a smirk, his fingers running over the pool cue in his hand. He was dressed more casual than what Barry was used to seeing him in. Just in a pair of blue jeans and a rather tight black long sleeved shirt, that made it easy to seethe definition of his muscles under it.

"Do you always eavesdrop on people's dates?" Barry questioned rubbing his temples.

"Only the bad ones." Len offered the pool cue out to Barry. "Looks like you need to get some stress out."

"What...do you want me to do with that." Barry questioned eyes wide. The object seemed like a weapon in Snarts hands. Then again he could probably hold a stuffed animal and still give the impression he could kill you with it.

"You're going to play a game of pool with it." He replied with a sigh. The kid was supposed to be some genius but he could really be clueless sometimes.

"Oh." Barry replied letting out a sigh of relief, and accepting the object. "Wait against you?"

"Do you know anyone else here Barry?" He questioned in a mocking tone. But it wasn't as mean as it could have been. "Come on."

Len started to lead him through the bar towards the back corner. There were four very expensive looking pool tables sitting out, only two of which were currently in use. One by a very drunk looking couple and the other by some young college girls. Barry followed him to the table in the back corner, and watched as Len picked out a new pool cue, and started to set up all the balls.

"So why exactly are you here?" Barry questioned.

"It's an ice themed bar, I felt the need to give it a shot." He told him after he had finished setting the balls on the table. "You can break." He offered.

"Why am I not surprised?" Barry let out a laugh moving to the end of the table to hit the cue ball. It slid down the table tapping the edge of the triangle that had been set up, causing the balls to move a little but it was still a sad hit. "Shouldn't you be in hiding?"

"I don't hide kid." He replied, giving Barry a look of complete disappointment as he didn't manage to successfully break rack. "Yellow solid into the middle right pocket." With a sigh Len leaned forward hitting the cue ball with precision sending the balls scattering across the table, the yellow slipping into the middle right pocket like he had said. He took another shot tossing the balls around a bit before it was Barry's turn."You're stripes."

"You do realize people are trying to kill you right?" Barry questioned setting up another shot. "Purple stripe into right end pocket." He told him hitting the cue ball. Only it went no where near where he predicted, the white cue ball sliding into the pocket alone.

"Has anyone ever told you suck at pool?" Len questioned, walking around the table to dig the cue ball out. He set it up properly. Avoiding Barry's previous question neatly. "Orange into the far right pocket." Len told him before hitting the cue ball sending it gliding across the table straight into the predicted pocket. Len took a second shot but he didn't aim to get one in, going easy on the kid.

"Quite a few times." Barry admitted, setting up his neck shot. "Uh okay let's see." He pursed his lips while he was trying to figure out his next shot. "I'm going to hit the green stripe." He told him, knowing there was no real shot he could make. He aimed things up perfectly confident in his shot, pulling back right as he was about to hit a shrill giggle from the neighbouring table made him jump causing him to fumble. "Crap." He muttered as the ball just barely touched the green. "It touched it, it counts."

"I'll let you have that one Scarlet." Len replied with a low chuckle.

Barry's gaze was drawn to the girls at the table across from them. They looked a little tipsy, and were staring across the table straight at Len before turning and giggling to each other. Barry frowned feeling a little irritated by it. But he couldn't blame them. Len was leaning taking another shot, his muscles visibly rippling under the tight black long sleeved shirt he had on.

"Red is going into the left middle pocket." He told Barry, with a smirk.

"There is no way you can make that shot-" Barry stopped mid sentence eyes wide.

Len took the shot, angling it so the white ball would slam the red one into the edge and send it ricocheting straight into the middle pocket. He straightened up with a smirk on his lips.

"What was that Scarlet?" He questioned mockingly meeting the Speedster's emerald eyes enjoying the exasperated look he was giving him.

Both of their attention was drawn to the group of girls as one of them let out a very flirty sounding giggle from their table and tossed a smile to Len. Len barely even glanced at the girl before turning back to Barry. Behind them the girl seemed offended that her normal trick wasn't working, obviously not used to being turned down so quickly.

"I think she likes you." Barry commented casually trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"She's not my type." Len replied lining up his second shot.

"Can you tell that before you even meet them?" Barry asked, watching as Len took another shot. He was purposely letting himself miss the pockets to give Barry a fighting chance.

"Trust me she's not my type." He told him once more.

"I respect that, I just don't get how you can judge someone so quickly without meeting them." Barry told him lining up another shot. "Purple, left middle." He replied, sending the cue ball down the table and barely brushing up against the striped purple ball.

"I've spent my life learning how to make snap judgements." He replied, getting in position to make his shot.

"Judging person is harder than judging a situation." Barry reminded, watching as Len hit a ball to position it for the next round. "She could be really great." He continued, but Barry got the feeling she wasn't. "You just shouldn't write someone off so quick.

"I'm gay Barry."

"Oh." Barry's eyes widened, suddenly feeling a bit stupid. But at the same time apart of him felt relieved. "That's cool. I'm not judging you or anything for that." Barry replied awkwardly. "I mean I'm bi myself."

Len smirked at that information, truthfully he knew the kid was interested in guys he had figured that out awhile ago. But it was something else to hear it from his lips. He watched as Barry went to set up his shot and then he let out a sigh.

"You know Scarlet it might help if you actually held the pool cue right." He told him making his way up behind Barry. He did something he knew he would regret later. He took Barry's hand and started to slide it into the proper position on the cue. "Rest the end in the crook of your thumb to help aim." He told him, moving the Speedster' s other hand. Len was almost reluctant to stop, Barry's hands were obnoxiously soft and warm just like the rest of his body. But once he finished getting him set up he took a step back. "Try now, red stripe into the far left pocket."

"O-Okay." Barry stammered, his entire face flush. He felt his heart racing in his chest as Len had moved his hands into place, his stomach filled with giddy nerves. Slowly he pulled the cue stick back and hit the white ball sending it into the red stripe on watching as it went perfectly into the left pocket. "Huh, I guess that worked."

"You get to take a second shot since you got it in." Len told him leaning back against the table behind him a smirk on his lips. The blush on Barry's face was annoyingly endearing.

"Right." Barry quickly lined up another shot but ended up knocking Len's blue one in. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"For a second I thought you might have gotten better at this kid." Len replied walking forward. "But you still suck." He took a clean shot knocking in the dark red ball, leaving the only one on the board for him to hit the black one. He lined up a shot and hit the white ball into the black one sending it ricocheting into the middle pocket.

"Pool isn't my game." Barry replied letting out a groan as Len finished up the game. "Now bowling on the other hand I would completely destroy you in."

"Bowling?" Len let out a laugh.

"Oh yeah laugh it up, it's better than pool." Barry replied with an over dramatic pout.

"Pool is a highly respected game." Len countered. "You're just bitter because you suck at it."

"I don't suck you probably cheated."

"No, I'm just that good, and you're just frosty about it." Len smirk grew into a cocky smile.

Barry found himself returning the smile before he could even think about it. He barely ever saw Snart do more than smirk, actually seeing him smile, even if it was a cocky smile was refreshing. Snart actually had a nice smile, one he should show off more.

Barry was about to reply when he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, and he quickly pulled it out to check the caller ID. It was the emergency Flash line, quickly he brought it up to his ear.

"Cisco hey, what's going on?" He questioned. "You've tracked her down? I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and gave Snart an apologetic look. "You should be heading home before someone finds you here."

"Yeah, yeah kid. Go do your hero thing." He told him a smirk on his lips.

Barry handed Len back the pool cue, before quickly making his way out of the bar and once he was in the clear he was gone in a flash.


End file.
